I hope

If a girl can stand as strong as Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) in Winter's Bone, then there's a lot to be optimistic about. This movie not only passes the Bechdel test but establishes that a woman can not only be more resourceful than a man, she can be a whole lot more observant.

Here are several good reasons to watch Winter's Bone:

It's an epic tale, set in the remote Ozark Mountains, of a young heroine defending her family and searching for her father. She relies on the women around her, and though they must navigate around the men, their quiet communion is certain. As Ree says early on, to her younger brother, who wants to ask the neighbours for a piece of deer meat, "You never ask for what should rightly be offered." Sure enough, that evening the woman brings over a box with meat and potatoes for a stew.

In an understated way it observes the corrosion of the drug trade (in this case the production and sale of methamphetamine) on family and community. The temptation here will be to say that they're producing and dealing because they live in poverty, but I don't think these people are poor. They live the way they want to live. There is plenty of evidence of happiness and contentedness in the "style to which they have become accustomed." The drugs, for some, are just another occupation, with higher stakes. It's the greed and territoriality of others, more than the "poverty" of these people, that causes the social breakdown.

Which brings me to the next good reason: it unflinchingly portrays the possibility of a simple physical life; though the family dynamics are bafflingly complex (Some might call this plain-living as poverty, but that's not the way the movie portrays it. The social structures - good music made cooperatively on traditional acoustic instruments, food prepared together, loyalty - would work if it weren't for the drug trade.

The dialogue runs true throughout. There were a few awkward-sounding moments early on, but that may just as well be a function of getting used to the flatness of the tone and face when words are spoken. These people do not let on what's going on, and the default of that is that it comes across as menace.

Finally, despite the obvious opportunities to make the movie topical (don't make or do drugs, help the poor, violence provides no lasting answer, girls will beat up girls) the story remains central. Through a clear eye and ear it avoids conventional cues (the soundtrack does not manipulate, the camera angles are necessary rather than wrought). You see the tension on the faces of the people. You feel it in the silences. You know that when a man matter-of-factly butts out his cigarette and lifts the back of his truck cap, he will pull out an instrument of some destruction, and he will use it. You understand that when a father's musical instrument is played and passed from daughter to uncle to niece, that this means we can breathe easy. We smile as the child strums a melody without fretting a note.

I rode the Rosetown loop today (57 ks) in 106 minutes, averaging 32.06 k/h. The wind was around 10 k/h, from the SW.