Winter’s Bone Close-Up (Closing Sequence)

Key Elements:

Cinematography –

Sound –

Editing –

MIse-En-Scen –

Performance –

Merab is threatening, and shows no sign of fear with a rifle aimed at her, showing that she is used to violence. Ree, also, is bloodied, aggressive and quick to anger.

The Sheriff at the end of the scene looks disgusted by the sight of the hands, whereas Ree has no visible reaction to it, having, seemingly, overcome her grief. The man is the coward here., the one displaying hysteria.

Ideology:

In summary, the film is about a woman struggling against problems forced on her by a patriarchal society, and in the end survives by her own resilience, independence, and help from a group of women. The men in the film either represent the threats she faces, such as the bale bondsman or the Sheriff, or the toor of her problems, like Thump Milton and Jessop, or are entirely useless to her, again like Milton or Jessop.

The story is not resolved through a violent climax, as it would typically be in male-dominated Hollywood. Instead, the resolution contains only female characters, and overtly avoids a showdown or a fight. Therefore, the film is atypical, following women from a woman’s POV, made by women, resolved in a rare way. This choice to go against violence is seen in Ree choosing to leave her gun behind, on trust, putting herself at risk to protect her family. In contrast, Teardrop, at the end of the sequence, implies to Ree that he is going to kill Jessop’s murderer. Due to a sense of toxic masculinity and a belief that he is bound through some sort of flawed, invisible code of loyalty or honour, he puts himself at risk not to protect the family, but to enact petty revenge, only exacerbating the cycle of violence. Ree was only ever involved in this situation out of necessity, wherea Teardrop had no actual need to take revenge. It is his choice, and he, weakly, decides to pursue violence, rather than protecting his family, like Ree did. Ree even chooses to stay home and help the kids rather than following g her dream and joining the army, sacrificing her own life for theirs.

Often in film women are objectified. Here, the opposite happens, as Jessop serves only as a corpse, an object. And in the end, a woman saves the day. Ree commits to a horrific task of removing her fathers hands, all to protect her family, despite the obvious trauma it causes her. Alongside this, in her final conversation with the Sheriff, Ree holds the leverage, not the man, as he pleads with her not to expose him as a coward. She knows this, mocking him, and leaves knowing that she has the power over the man, not the other way around, for once.

In the final scene, Ree, her mother and the daughter do the laundry, whereas the boy, Sonny, just plays idly on a nearby skateboard. The chicks that Teardop gives to the kids as a gift represent the children taking on their own parental responsibilities.