Fantastic Movie Experience

Just watched Winter’s Bone.  There is no easy way to describe this movie.  It is hard to watch, but not because of extreme, gory violence or awkward and unnecessary sexual content (I am of the opinion all of that is unnecessary).  One critic called it poverty porn, but that is because elitist left-wing movie critics don’t know how people really live.  People really do eat the animals they kill, have trashed cars around their rundown, cluttered, dirty houses, are satisfied with running water and electricity and any kind of heat source, and do want to join the army for a better life.   I do not know drug dealers and meth cookers, but I do know poor people.

This is the world of the movie.  It is a great story, but as in the way that New York is often a character in a movie, the Ozarks’ physical and society environment is a character in this one.  And the main human character, Ree, is embodied magnificently by the young actress.  I know that girl!  Local folks were hired as actors in the film and do almost as well.  There are no false notes.  Perhaps the character Ree is pushed beyond human endurance and we have to “buy” her doing things that are a bit unbelievable, but we can believe Ree would do what she would have to to protect her brother and sister, which is her main motivation.

If you can find this DVD, watch it, but don’t expect anything uplifting other than courage and tenacity.