Winter's Bone is a 2010 American independent drama film, an adaptation of Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Debra Granik, and stars Jennifer Lawrence. It explores the interrelated themes of close and distant family ties, the power and speed of gossip, patriarchy, self-sufficiency, and rural poverty in the Ozarks as they are impacted by the pervasive underworld of illegal methamphetamine labs. The film won a number of awards, including the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It received four 2011 Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor.
Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), 17, looks after her catatonic mother; her brother, Sonny (12); and her sister, Ashlee (6). Every day, she makes sure they are fed, dressed, and bound for school, whilst teaching them basic survival skills (e.g. hunting and cooking). The family is very poor - as an incident where the family dog is fed with stale food demonstrates (one of several incidents where someone is thrown a "bone"). Her father, Jessup, a meth-cooker, hasn't been home for a long time and his whereabouts are unknown. The local sheriff shows up and tells Ree that Jessup is due to be in court in a week, cannot be found, and has put their house and property up as collateral for his bail. If he doesn't show up for his trial, they will lose it all. Determined to find him, dead or alive, Ree doggedly questions her father's relatives and associates. She has small successes with the women but catastrophic defeats with the men - everywhere she goes the ultimate message is the same: stay out of it or get hurt. Even her father's brother, Teardrop (John Hawkes), tells her that Jessup has probably been silenced for talking with the authorities. Desperate, Ree pushes on. When a bailbondsman informs Ree that in a week she will lose the house, she once again tries to speak to the region's patriarch, Thump Milton (Ronnie Hall). Because in a previous visit she had been warned not to return, Ree is brutally beaten by three women of the clan. Upon returning to consciousness, the situation's gravity is revealed to Ree - they have already discussed killing her, but cannot quite bring themselves to act. When Thump and the rest of the clan show up, Ree remains defiant but pleads her case. She is responsible for her sick mother and 2 young siblings. If her father is not found, whether dead or alive, the bond will be forfeited, and her family will be forced "out into the fields like dogs" Luckily, just then, Teardrop shows up to rescue her. He confronts Thump and the rest of the Milton clan, and assures them that he means them no harm and will take responsibility for his niece and any further actions by her. Thump is satisfied that Teardrop will not cause any problems and that he understands that whatever happened between the Milton clan and Jessup was business. Thump lets Teardrop take Ree and be on their way. On the way home, Teardrop tells Ree that if she ever finds out who killed her father, not to tell him because then he would have to do something about it and end up "toes up" as well. Ree sees no further options that would enable her to either keep the house or keep the family together, so she attempts to join the military after seeing recruiting posters offering $40,000 for 5 years of service. But when the recruiter tells her she will not be able to care for her family while in basic training or deployed to a foreign country, she changes her mind. One night, the same three Milton women who beat Ree come to her house. They offer to take her to see "her father's bones." Their offer to help her requires revealing little much else about her father so that no new "rumours" will be told about them. The women blindfold Ree so that she will not know where she is going. They drive her to a pond, get into a rowboat, and row to the shallow submerged place where her father's body lies. They insist Ree reach into the water and grasp her father's hands. They expect her to pull the arms taut, so that, using a chainsaw, they can cut them off the corpse. When Ree presents the hands it will finally prove to the authorities that her father is dead. Ree agonizes, but complies. After one hand has been severed, Ree balks and fails to firmly grasp her father's deteriorating remaining arm. The chainsaw-toteing Merab admonishs her, explaining that in the past law authorities have been fooled by fugitives before, and that only by the submitting of both hands will the authorities be placated from their pursuit. Agonizingly, Ree helps with the removal of her father's other hand. After delivering the severed hands to the sheriffwhom Teardrop has accused of being complicit in Jessup's deathRee and her family are able to keep their home. Once again, the bailbondsman returns and delivers an unexpected boon - a large sum of cash that had been part of the bond was not claimed by an anonymous Jessup associate. The movie ends with Teardrop visiting Ree Dolly and giving Sonny and Ashlee a baby chicken each to raise. After trying to play Jessup's banjo, he tells Ree that he knows who killed his brother. Ree wants to give the banjo to Teardrop, but Teardrop says that she should keep it for him, and then abruptly leaves. Ree's brother Sonny asks Ree if she plans on leaving them, to which she responds she would never leave them. Ree's little sister picks up the banjo and attempts to play it.
