Winters Bone Close-Up (Opening Sequence)

Overview:

We are introduced to Ree, her family, and her daily life in the rural Ozark’s. We see that she is struggling financially, having to rely on her neighbours for food and giving away her horse as she cannot afford hay. We also learn from a tense interaction with the local Sheriff that her father, Jessie, has been released from prison, but since he is not appearing for court, the house and lands that Ree lives in are at risk of repossession as they are up for her fathers bond. She commits to finding him before she loses everything.

Key elements:

Cinematography –

The rural environment is shown through a cool, silvery blue colour palette which evokes a cold temperature and still, dead atmosphere. The inside of the home is a contrasting warm, dimly lit, orange palette that evokes a feeling of warmth and homeliness, emphasised by the intimate moments that Ree shares with her family, such as when she looks after her mother and her brother shows them the stray dog he found.

The family is shown to be struggling with poverty and are trapped in it by the way that the kids are shown through a frame within a frame between railing bars near the start of the scene as they play with kittens.

Ree is shown to be isolated when she looks through a window to her siblings in class, and when she looks in on the military trainees, she watches through a physical, translucent barrier, showing that she is held back from joining. She is isolated from adults, people her age, and younger people. Also, the brightly lit hall where people train evokes her ambition and desire to join herself. She is also shown to be trapped by the wide shots eh is shown in, such as when she walks away from Sonya after giving her horse away, simulating her feeling of being trapped by her poverty.

Sound –

The non-diegetic composed score accompanying the establishing shot of the rural environment immediately establish the Missouri Ozark’s as the setting of the film. The song is somber and melancholic, accompanied only by the diegetic sounds of the children playing, lending the film a quiet, dull atmosphere.

The moment that a non-diegetic droning increases in the sound mix rises to add tension to the scene where Sonya questions Ree on where Jessop. It is made more tense by the relative silence that has building up to it.

Editing –

The slow pace and relative silence of the opening scene establishes the loneliness and bleak situation that Ree is in.

Mise-en-scen –

They environment of the Ozark’s is immediately presented as empty and hollow, with dead grass, dark trees, grey skies and sparse, wooden homes surrounded by litter.

The poverty that Ree and her family live in is established through the grim looking food, cluttered and cramped house, messy garden filled with disregarded kids toys, tyres and farming equipment, and the gone-off food the starved and cold looking dog has to eat. The children have no beds, instead sleeping on the chairs and sofa. In contrast, the school seems bright, clean and warm.

The clothing of all the characters in the film is gender-neutral, in that it does not present any characters as more feminine or masculine. This is true for Ree, whose clothing is baggy, with muted colours, and looks as dull as the Ozark’s she lives in.

Ree looks much younger than the older characters in the film, such as Sonya, which, in turn, presents them as more experienced and weathered. Also, by presenting the women as similar to the men in their clothing, or by having older female characters, the movie denies the male gaze.

The sheriff is presented as an outsider by his clean, shiny car and presentable uniform . It shows that he is not like the locals, and conveys Ree’s discomfort near him and subsequent distrust and coldness towards him.

Performance –

The children are shown as innocent and happy, unlike Ree, who clearly takes on the hardships of being a young carer, and so seems relatively hapless.

Ideology:

The films ideology is explicit in that it follows mostly women, the story being told through a female perspective (a female who revolts against conventional female roles in a patriarchal society), and features a strong, self-reliant woman as the protagonist. Much of the audience’s satisfaction also comes from seeing this character overcome the challenges she faces, many a result of the rural, patriarchal community she lives in. However, it is also implicit in that this theme is built up throughout the film as an underlying idea, the main focus of the film’s narrative being the hunt for Ree’s missing father, her growth as a strong female character a large, accompanying aspect of the story.

“A feminist film about an anti-feminist world”.

This quote is backed up every time that a female character goes against a clear gender stereotype or role in the rural society of the film.

Ree is immediately established as the protector of the family, serving as what would traditionally be ‘the man of the house’ in most rural, isolated country communities such as this one. From her first appearance, she looks tired as she hangs up clothes as the children play around her, literally looking up to her. Ree also stands above her mother, showing her responsibility as the carer of the home and the family, without any present or able minded adults. She is established as an independent self-reliant woman by her teaching the children and caring for her mother. We also see her taking the maternal role by teaching the kids lessons and giving them roles, the girl takes on the job of feeding the god and the kittens, the boy looks after a dog he found in the woods, Ree teaches the girl maths and spelling, the boy manners, and both of them how to cook. We also see her looking in on the kids in class, with a hint of pride on her face, presenting her even more as a mother figure.

Ree is presented in a way that denies the ‘male gaze’ theory, wearing baggy and dull clothing, shown in dim or overcast light, surrounded by an unclean home and being seen washing her face in a sink, a realistic but unattractive moment. She is not glamorised by makeup or eye-catching clothing. She is presented as a real person, who is not sexual or treated as a sex object to any extent, rather the opposite.

At school, Ree seems to be avoiding the child-care training room, where women are clearly being indoctrinated into the patriarchal role of being the carer of the house and children. However, there is a man in there being trained to hold a baby, which is a reversal of traditional gender roles in the rural community. This is also seen in the emphasis placed on the women training to join the military. She is not just forced to be a strong individual, but seems to want to be stronger, striving to join the military. This is also evidenced by her seemingly being embarrassed to ask for help from Sonya when she gives her horse to her and her teaching her brother to “never ask for what ought to be offered”.

Ree’s neighbour, Sonya, looks after the horses, a traditionally male dominated farming role. She is also later seen carving up game with her husband, rather than just him doing it. At the same time, though, her husband warningly approaches the sheriff as if protecting his local community, taking on the traditional, protective male role.

The sheriff is clearly hated by this small community, seen in how cold Ree is toward him. Ree takes on the mothers role again here, telling the sheriff “you better just tell me” after he fails to talk to her, symbolising Ree’s assumed responsibility as the mother, and the hardships that involves. She is resolute in her task to find Jessop, interrupting the sheriff and telling him, confidently, that she will find him.

When Sonya enters the home, she addressed Ree first, then the kids, then Ree’s mother, showing the authority and dynamic of who shares most of the responsibility in the home.She also stands up for herself when Sonya accuses her of knowing where Jessop is. The ending of the scene exemplifies Ree’s sacrifice of her comfort to look after her family, seen when she lets out her anxiety at Sonya’s accusations in a huff, then, before having time to relax, turns and begins teaching the kids to cook deer stew.

The film technically does not pass the Bechdell test, as while there are multiple names female characters, their main source of discussion, motivating factor and the thing that drives the plot forward is Jessop’s disappearance, a male character (although, when Sonya and Ree first speak, it is about a horse, so…you be the judge of this!). However, it denies the male gaze, displaying realistic female characters through the perspective of a woman who goes against traditional, patriarchal roles in society.