Modern Day Moonshine: Breaking The Barrier

Modern Day Moonshine The opening strains of “Missouri Waltz” juxtaposed with the images of children playing in the yard of a dirty and run down cabin in the woods shows what is important to Ree Dolly, played by Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout role. The children, Ashley and Sonny, are dependent on Ree for survival, and Ree is dependent on the safety and refuge from the world that the cabin and its surrounding woodlands offers. Based on a book of the same name, by Ozarkian author Daniel Woodrell, New York magazine’s David Edelstein calls Winter’s Bone “an odyssey” that is closely based on the book. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian titles it a “Hillbilly-gangster-realist-noir”, the first and possibly only of its kind. The two reviewers compare

The sheriff informs Ree that her father put up the cabin and land as collateral on his bond, and that if he doesn’t show up for court all will be forfeit to the bail-bondsman. Ree sets of to find him, dead or alive, pleading to her “kin”, distant relations, who are all involved with the production of that modern day equivalent to moonshine, methamphetamines. These people are unfriendly and often violent, giving the modicum of assistance only because of that tenuous blood connection. One relative takes her to a burnt down cookhouse, attempting to convince her that her father met his end there. Ree, unconvinced, states that “My daddy ain’t never blown up a batch” and derides him for thinking her stupid enough to believe that a year old burn was only a week

She’s brutally beaten for going back to his house, where she was forbidden to return to. The women of the clan do the beating, while the men are the ones behind it, watching in the background. Her uncle “Teardrop” rescues her, taking responsibility for her actions from here on out. Whether it be pity, societal pressure, charity, or a combination of all three, the women that assaulted Ree come to take her to her father’s final resting place. The haunting boat ride, and abject horror of what Ree has attempting to convince her that her father met his end there. Ree, unconvinced, states that “My daddy ain’t never blown up a batch” and derides him for thinking her stupid enough to believe that a year old burn was only a week old. Ree’s tenacity in tracking down “Lil Arthur”, the family patriarch in a leather vest, eventually gets her into trouble. She’s brutally beaten for going back to his house, where she was forbidden to return to. The women of the clan do the beating, while the men are the ones behind it, watching in the background. Her uncle “Teardrop” rescues her, taking responsibility for her actions from here on