Review: Winter's Bone

I saw Winter’s Bone a couple weekends ago and I am still not sure what I think about it.  I think it’s taking me so long to make up my mind because I wanted it to be better than it was.  Debra Granik’s narrative feature based on Daniel Woodrell’s book by the same name won a jury prize at Sundance and people raved about the indie flick.  The film follows 17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) as she searches for her bail-jumping father before their land is snatched out from under them to cover his forfeited bond.  Finding no help from her practically catatonic mother and feeling the weight of her two young siblings on her shoulders, Ree attempts enlist the help of her father’s recalcitrant brother Teardrop (John Hawkes).   He finally comes to her aid as she tries to get information out of a clan of tight-lipped and brutal meth-cookers, her father’s last known associates.  Besides following the story of Ree, the film is a look at the harsh reality of rural life in the Arkansas Ozarks.  The problem is, although Granik goes to lengths to avoid exoticizing the culture, the viewer still feels very much like an outsider.  We are never allowed into the mind of Ree.  She is tough and kind with her siblings.  She stands up to all the forces trying to rip her family apart.  Her moments of vulnerability are quiet, private, and real, but they are insufficient to create a real sympathy between viewer and the character.  Her hopes and dreams, if she dares to have any, remain locked behind her stony mask of determination. 

The color scheme is the cool blues and greys of winter and the dialogue and action are as spare as the title would suggest.  Perhaps too spare.  Another problem with the film, and I hate saying this, is that it possibly is too realistic.  The storyline jogs along, escalating in the logical places, but there are no twists.  The end is not particularly surprising and doesn’t reveal anything new, however the denouement is probably the best scene of the whole film.  Since I still think the film is worth seeing, I won’t spoil the ending.  I can’t believe I’m saying this either, but I would have loved to see a version of this film made with a bigger budget.  The final scene, which takes place at night, but is shot day for night, would have been so much more powerful filmed actually at night, lit with the glow of balloon lights.  I don’t take issue with anything else in that scene, however, and I think where the camera looked and more importantly didn’t look, was perfect.

Final verdict: watch it at home for a look at a world that many of us know nothing about and is interesting and intriguing in it’s own right.  I plan to check out the book too, just to see how Granik chose to adapt it to film: Winter's Bone: A Novel by Daniel Woodrell.