Jennifer Lawrence is Ree, a determined young woman trying to find her father who needs to answer bail or else they would lose their home.

Ree is dissuaded by various members of the family, her uncle (John Hawkes) is violently opposed to her poking about and some distant relatives are even more irate.

It seems her dad was involved in some drug running before he got caught. It seems he might have been silenced in case he spilled the beans to get a lesser sentence.

This is a rough-hewn drama set in a rural mountain community. The acting is raw and tough, even the army recruitment scene will have you believe that its actual soldiers recruiting. Acting aside the plot is rather flimsy.

Ree and her young siblings are in danger of losing their home and may end up in care, surely there was a better way to resolve the situation. All the bail bondsman wants is their dad or a body and the perpetrators could had given a helping hand much earlier.

In a wilderness and poor area of the Ozarks, the seventeen year-old Rhee Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) raises her younger siblings Sonny (Isaiah Stone) and Ashlee (Ashlee Thompson) respectively and takes care of her catatonic mother alone, since her father Jessup Dolly is absent in prison. When the local Sheriff Baskin (Garret Dillahunt) arrives at her poor house, he tells that his father, who is a meth cook, put their house in collateral for his bail and if he does not appear in court, the family will lose the property. The determined Rhee decides to find her father and walks to the houses of his father's friends, relatives and associates but is advised to stop snooping around. Desperate, Rhee tries to enlist the army to get US$ 40,000.00 for five years service but she is minor and needs the agreement of her parents. Rhee discovers that her father might have been murdered by his dangerous associates, but she is unable to find his body. When Rhee is hopeless to keep her real estate, she receives visitors that offer her father's bones.

"Winter's Bone" is a powerful drama about a teenager that supports her sick mother and her two siblings and has to face dangerous people in a very poor area in the United States of America to know the whereabouts of her father. It is impressive the courage and maturity of Rhee in a very realistic story. This low-budget film is supported by magnificent performances and Jennifer Lawrence is awesome. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Inverno da Alma" ("Winter of the Soul")

This film might easily scare the crap out of the viewer. It's a very unflinching view of a subculture most of use don't want to think about--the clannish country folk who run meth labs and have a very, very distorted and scary set of values. Apart from the recent documentary, "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia", it's a group you just don't hear much about if you don't live in Appalachia and the Ozarks. Watching the film is almost guaranteed to be unsettling.

The movie begins in an unnamed region in America. While the movie was filmed in Missouri, it could have well as on been made in Kentucky or Arkansas. A 17 year-old (Jennifer Lawrence) is taking care of her 6 and 12ear-old siblings as well as her mother--a woman who has lost her mind and is unable to care for herself let alone her kids. So the oldest girl has dropped out of school and has way too much to worry about--when she learns she now has an even bigger problem. It seems that her long absent father has disappeared while out on bail--and he's apparently not to be found anywhere. This is serious because to get bail, the man signed a note giving the bail bondsman the family's home! So, unless he is found quickly, the four will be out on the streets with no where to go.

Normally, you'd think in a situation like this that the extended family and neighbors would chip in to help--however, not in this sick culture. That's because her family is made up of other low-lifes who run meth labs and adhere to a sad code of ethics--SHUT UP and DON'T ASK QUESTIONS. Each time she approaches one of her kinsman, you sit in your seat on edge--not knowing if they'll kill her or beat her senseless just for asking. Eventually, this DOES occur--and the scene is quite brutal. But Lawrence's character is determined--she and her family can't survive unless they either find the man or his corpse. What has happened to him and how she is able to possibly save their home is just just something you'll need to see for yourself--just be aware that it's very, very tough viewing.

While the film was indeed unpleasant, I admire many things about it. First, Jennifer Lawrence did a fantastic job and might have won the Oscar for Best Actress most years. Unfortunately for her, Natalie Portman was such a strong candidate for the prize this same year. This made the recent Oscars quite impressive, with Lawrence (at 19) and the 13 year-old Hailee Stanfeld (who was nominated in the WRONG category of 'Best Supporting Actress'--even though it WAS a starring role) delivering amazing performances. Second, John Hawkes delivered an amazingly menacing and terrific performance. While he lost to Christian Bale in the Best Supporting Actor category, he sure made it close with a great role as Lawrence's VERY scary yet complex uncle. Third, I adored this film because it was what I would consider the 'Anti-Hollywood' nominee. It had a very small budget, no-name actors and a dismal location shoot--and managed, in my opinion, to be better than most of the films nominated for Best Picture--mostly because it featured fine acting and writing and no crazy special effects of insane budgets. I sure hope more such films are recognized in the future.

My only quibble, and it's very tiny, is the use of the 'unsteady cam'--a recent trend that has been way overused. While it's reasonably appropriate for a movie like this one, I just hate the notion that a non-steady picture is somehow artsy--while, for some, it's actually nausea-inducing! Still, it's an exceptional film...provided you can stand to see such misery and depravity.