Warning--this movie is not for the faint of heart. It is an intense and uncompromising look at the rural Missouri underclass through the eyes of 17-year-old Ree Dolly. Set in the heart of a poverty-stricken, methamphetamine wracked community in the remote Ozark Woods, the film slowly pieces together the mystery of her father's disappearance, through Ree's journey into the backwoods and beyond to find him. He has a court date, and has used his house as collateral. As Ree looks for him, we see the darkness at the heart of her community and her family, including drug rings, misogyny, violence, and an almost universal apathy about her plight. Played by Jennifer Lawrence, Ree displays a maturity rarely seen in women twice her age. Ree's fight for survival is unsettling, violent and incredibly bleak, but it's also utterly compelling.
On Ree's journey, we discover an America where drug dealing is so ingrained even small children are indoctrinated, where women are subjugated with few rights and even less education, and simply surviving the winter can depend on squirrel meat.
The central mystery, locating Ree's father before the bail men take their home, is tautly played, and although the outcome is something of an open secret from the second act, the final reveal is shocking nonetheless.
A superb thriller, Winter's Bone is full of great stuff. It's intelligent, well written, entirely non-patronizing and skilfully shot, but it's Lawrence's performance that raises it from great to remarkable. Her intensity and ability to convey determination mixed with hopelessness will stay with you long after the film ends--it is not an exaggeration to call it haunting. Brace yourself, but this is well worth it. And it shows a side of Missouri and Iowa that are not pretty, but entirely accurate.
I loved this movie. Very disturbing yet well done.
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