Winter’s Bone

Year: 2010

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Granik

Review

one of the better films of the year. takes place in the ozarks, not the appalacians as i had assumed. it’s thin on plot, but the characters are interesting and perhaps the most interesting character is the mountain ghetto that people generally don’t even think about. when we think about ghettos most will envision south central la or harlem, not the mountains of arkansas or west virginia, yet these areas are probably more impoverished than the typical inner city ghetto. this film brings all that to light and more. instead of crack it’s meth. instead of hip-hop it’s bluegrass. instead of uzis it’s hunting rifles. instead of black it’s white.

the film also shows an interesting gender divide and the gender roles of the culture. violence against women is fine, so long as you’re another woman. men are in charge, but women solve problems. the same could be said about the inner city ghetto where women are much better at entering college than men.

jennifer lawrence was especially good and should get academy consideration.

Watched in theater