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For Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) and her family, this Christmas had promised to be their best ever—because they’d finally saved up enough money to pay for their new double-wide trailer. But then Ray’s husband ran off with the final payment—no doubt headed to Atlantic City to gamble it away.
Desperate to get her money back—and salvage Christmas for her two sons, Ray heads to the bingo hall on the nearby Mohawk reservation. There, she meets Lila (Misty Upham), a Mohawk widow with failing eyesight and a year-old son who was taken from her and has been living with her mother-in-law.
Lila once earned extra money by smuggling—first goods, now people—from the Mohawk reservation in Canada, across the frozen river, and down to her reservation in New York. But Ray seems to have everything Lila needs to continue smuggling: good eyesight, a car with a trunk, and (most importantly) white skin that will keep her from getting pulled over. So the two begin a relationship that seems beneficial for both of them—as long as they can keep from getting caught.
Frozen River is a heartfelt and heart-breaking film about desperation—and about how far a woman will go to take care of her kids. Though the two women in the film come from different lives and different backgrounds, their stories are the same: life hasn’t been easy, and they just want to be able to provide for their children. These aren’t the pampered TV housewives of Wisteria Lane; they’re desperate single moms who are struggling just to survive. They may not always make the right decisions—and you’ll shake your head as Ray’s kids eat popcorn and Tang for breakfast while they worry about the rent-to-own company taking away their giant TV—but they’re doing what they can.
The film isn’t always an easy one to watch, but it tells an honest and sincere story about real people with real problems. Even if you don’t live in a run-down old trailer on an Indian reservation, you’ll feel for these two women. You’ll feel their exhaustion and their desperation—thanks to solid performances by Upham and (especially) Leo. And though the movie does occasionally lean a bit toward the melodramatic, the sentiment is real.
This simple independent film once again proves that you don’t need a huge budget, flashy CGI, or outrageous plot twists to make a compelling and memorable film.
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