Nosferatu Home Video Pix 2010 - "Winter's Bone"

I am chagrined to admit that, of all resources, I have to thank the confounded Academy Awards for introducing me to the otherwise obscure 2010 movie “Winter’s Bone”. Jennifer Lawrence was nominated for best actress and John Hawkes was nominated for best supporting actor. The movie takes place in the modern day Ozarks and the filmmakers ought to be saluted for filming entirely in Missouri. The movie is about the rural mountain people, their kinfolk, the culture and subculture of the Ozark clans. The story is told from the perspective of the innocent bystanders who live on the ragged fringe of their kinfolks’ drug - and otherwise illegal - subculture. The Ozark bootleggers have, of course, graduated from moonshine production to meth labs. The local cops are dirty and the mountain folk, of course, have always relied on their own laws and justice system.

This is not inherently dynamic subject matter. One of the strengths of “Winter’s Bone” is its more than convincing reflection of the dullness of ignorance, poverty and broken relationships. Shudders. What is dynamic is the threat of being reduced from merely hard times to complete destitution and ruined lives. The major strengths of the movie are the performances of Jennifer Lawrence as 17-year-old Ree Dolly and of John Hawkes as her moody, druggy uncle Teardrop Dolly. After I saw “Winter’s Bone”, I described it, in one of my rare moments of mirth, as the mountain clan version of “True Grit”. In one of my even rarer moments of reflection, I realized that this is not a ridiculous comparison. Teenage girl takes on the responsibility of righting of a wrong done to her family. Seeks aid of a reluctant, possibly useless, older man to track down the elusive wrongdoer. Many warnings, harrowing circumstances, removal of human limbs. And I would honestly say that both “True Grit” and “Winter’s Bone” are appropriate movies for family viewing.

To flesh out the plot of “Winter’s Bone”, I’ll say that Ree is looking for her missing father, Jessup Dolly the meth lab expert who has put up the family log cabin and the surrounding woods as collateral for bail and then promptly disappeared. Ree, her mentally incapacitated mother, and her younger brother and sister are looking down the barrel of being turned out of their home and being separated from each other to live their lives as beggars. When Ree goes on the hunt for Jessup, her uncle Teardrop (antihero for the ages) is the first of many of the kinfolk and related clan members who warn her not to ask questions or make waves. When you meddle with the Ozark underworld you’re cruising for a bruising, you’re playing with fire, you’re walking on thin ice. After seeing Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes as Ree and Teardrop, I would watch any movie that features either of them, they are galvanizing ingredients.

Can’t forget to mention an additional strength of “Winter’s Bone” - the cinematography. The cluttered mountain environment becomes its own character in the movie. Living on the skids among nitwits never looked so pretty.