The opening shot begins to tell the story perfectly; it's s close-up of a worn down looking woman deep in thought. Through shockingly yellow teeth she's dragging deeply on her cigarette, almost as if her life depends on it. She appears to be miserable.
Her name is Ray (played to perfection by Melissa Leo.) It turns out she has just discovered
that her husband has skipped town with the money they had saved for a double-wide trailer. She's angry, frustrated and scared.
For the next 90 minutes we follow Ray as she attempts to rise above her circumstances and improve her life and the lives of her two children. Her part-time job at a dollar store only goes so far and things around the house are grim. The rent to own store is coming to take back the television and the mobile home salesman is looking for his money. We are also privy to dinner time at her house, which for the third night in a row consists of popcorn and Tang.
The story takes place over the Christmas holiday and the weather in northern New York state is atrocious. Piles of snow are everywhere and yet another blizzard is on its way. After watching this film I felt like my feet were soaking wet.
Desperate to find her husband Ray heads to the local casino located in Mohawk tribal territory. There she runs into Lila (played with understated brilliance by Misty Upham,) a young Native-American woman of the local tribe. It seems that Lila has stolen Ray's husbands car after he left it there on his way to who knows where. After some tense moments, the women forge an uneasy bond, lured by the quick money they can earn ferrying illegal immigrants across the nearby Canadian border. The money they earn at this endeavor is far more than their meager jobs supply them but the risks, both emotional and physical, are dramatic.
What makes Frozen River so special, besides the fantastic acting of all involved, is the way it tells Ray's story so convincingly. Her situation is bleak and, while we feel sorry for her, we never pity her. It doesn't succumb to a cornyuplifting ending even though the final scene contains an underlying feeling that everything is going to be OK. But Ray, Lila and their kids have paid dearly for their small comforts.
This movie, unfortunately, mirrors the same situation many Americans are suddenly finding themselves in. Jobs are disappearing and those that remain are frequently not lucarative enough to allow folks to properly support themselves. People are getting desperate. And, while there is a great temptation to escape these dire situations via the hollywood blockbuster where the hero gets the girl and the fortune, it's in small movies like this one where one can find real talent, feeling and humanity. Sometimes it's not pretty but it sure is moving.
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