Frozen River

The face of grinding poverty ... a day late and a dollar short ... and what about love - to only have a double-wide, with good insulation, so the pipes never freeze - a safe place for her sons.

Set in northern New York State along the St. Lawrence River, near a large Mohawk reservation.


Melissa Leo (Ray Eddy) gives a stunning portrait of a wife and a mother struggling to keep body and soul together. Her husband, a gambling addict takes off a week before Christmas. In spite of working two years for Dollar Mart, the manager refuses to give her full-time. They're coming tomorrow afternoon to take the TV.

Leo's face says it all - every line speaks a sorrowful tale. I couldn't help but think of those haunting Depression-era photos of Oakies living in the California camps -  their farms long buried in the dust of drought, and their hopes dying for want of a job.

No wonder she was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

Gentle, powerful performances in every regard.

Charlie McDermott is the 15-year old son, a good boy hurting for his parents. It was evocative to see a teen boy portrayed this gently, rather than opting for the usual images of temper tantrums and wild driving, or some fit of protest against the world. He cherishes the one thing his dad gave him - a blowtorch that he uses to repair a small, pedal-driven, merry-go-round. He wants a job, but mom keeps him in school, scrapping by pennies for lunch.

Until a chance meeting with Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), a young Mohawk single mom living on the reservation, an on-again, off-again, smuggler of illegal aliens from Quebec. Desperate for money, Ray agrees to smuggle some folks across the frozen St. Lawrence in her car trunk - it's easy money - the border in the Mohawk Nation is porous, and the law is marginal. So, why not? Maybe that double-wide is within reach.


You'll have to see it for the rest of the story, but this I can say: under the direction of Courtney Hunt, this remarkable film captures the heartache of poverty, the deep sense of entrapment, every door closed and every hope squashed. It's a tough world, no doubt, but for the poor, it's even tougher.


In the end, a remarkable moment of sacrifice and a glimmer of hope.


Literally, a dark movie since much of it happens at night. Carefully edited, with a marvelous smattering of characters on the bottom-side of life.


I would have loved to have seen this in a theater, but I'm glad to have finally seen it at home. This is a must-see.