Movie Review Frozen River

Frozen River (2008)

Directed by Courtney Hunt

Written by Courtney Hunt 

Starring Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Michael O'Keefe 

Release Date August 1st, 2008

Published January 29th, 2009

There has been a bit of unintended zeitgeist capturing at the movie theaters recently. You have Clive Owen battling evil bankers in The International and Isla Fisher fending off creditors in Confessions of a Shopaholic. But the movie that may be the most on topic and of the moment is one that few people have heard of and fewer people have seen despite a slew of a awards nominations.

Melissa Leo is Oscar nominated for her role as a single mother named Ray in Frozen River. Ray's dirt bag husband has just absconded with their savings for a gambling binge. He won't be back. This means she won't be able to make the payment on the new double wide trailer that was to arrive that day. It's headed back to the lot.

Ray has two kids, 5 and 15. They have so little money for food that one morning breakfast consists of popcorn and Tang. When Ray see's her husband's car at the local bingo parlor, on a local Indian reservation on the border between New York and Canada, she thinks maybe he's still in town. Instead she meets Lila (Misty Upham) who took Ray's husband's car after he left it at the bus station with the keys inside.

She didn't want just any car, this car had trunk space and an automatic opener, ideal for her job smuggling illegal Chinese and Middle Eastern immigrants across the border from Canada to the states. In need of cash Ray goes into business with Lila and a dangerous situation develops as the two desperate women risk everything for the modest comforts a little cash can provide.

Frozen River comes from writer director Courtney Hunt and in these harsh economic climes it may be the most of the moment movie out there. Not that all poor people turn to human smuggling when things get tough. But, there are desperate, aching, underemployed people and undernourished children all across this country. Frozen River captures the desolate sadness felt by millions as jobs dry up and money goes from tight to nearly non-existent.

Melissa Leo is extraordinary in conveying the determination of a drowning woman willing to risk her life and anything else to keep a roof over her kids heads. She goes without food for a few days at a time. She works a thankless job at sub-par pay. When an opportunity for a quick 12 hundred dollars comes her way she isn't about to get prideful over criminality or moralistic about the law.

If you can't recognize a little of Melissa Leo's Ray somewhere in your life, even if it is just that nice lady bagging your groceries at the store, you live in some kind of dream world. This kind of desperation is eating at the edges of middle and lower middle class America across the country. No movie has captured this nearly as well as Frozen River.

That maybe why the film is so little seen. People tend to go to the movies to escape their problems. Frozen River is a reflection of the problems felt by so many and the images are troubling and heartbreaking.