Frozen River a brutal but haunting film.

Frozen River is an uncompromising film about two low-income women struggling for economic survival. The harsh frozen landscape intensifying the pitiless treatment by those around them and reflects the cold determination of the women to improve their lives and those of their children. The only sympathy towards them is shown by the Mohawks on the reservation attempting to aid Lila in improving her choices. Both women’s lives have been complicated by their absent men. Ray’s by her gambler husband absconding with the family savings set aside to purchase a larger trailer home for Christmas, and Lila’s when her stepmother steals her one year old child on the death of her husband while people smuggling.

Never overly sentimental, the women are tough and resilient and inadvertently come to depend on one other. Their treacherous crossing of the frozen river is illustrative of the bleakness and lack of choices in their lives. Their mutual support is always based on their needs and revolves around caring for their children and providing a safe environment for them. Their motherhood is their common bond, even when the child is someone else’s. An inescapable driving compulsion. As when they both go back to recover the lost baby and discover it has revived and is not dead: (Sc99, p78, l-10)                                                     LILA                                                                                                                                       That was the Great Spirit, not me.                                                                                                                                                                            RAY                                                                                                                                        All I know is Kmart is closed and I got nothing for under the tree.                                              Lila looks at Ray.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  RAY (CONT’D)                                                                                                                                              What?                                                                                                                                   Lila says nothing.                                    RAY (CONT’D)                                                                                                                                    Look, I don’t have time for that. I can’t get deep about every little thing.                                                    I just have to keep on going. I only need one more run to have enough                                                        for my double.

Ray is portrayed as a ‘good’ mother, calm and patient with her kids. She is a smoker who doesn’t smoke inside when the children are home regardless of the stress in her life. The film cuts from the frozen landscape to her discovery of the missing money:

“RAY EDDY, 38, a bit worn for her years, with a long red ponytail, wearing an old bathrobe,                sits in the passenger seat of her RED PLYMOUTH HORIZON with the door open, smoking a                cigarette, thinking. Her breath is visible in the cold morning air. Her bare feet rest on the                  cold ground. (Scene 3, P1)

Or when her son T.J. doesn’t believe that they will get their trailer home, she retains her sense of humour:   (scene 48, p58, line 5)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  RAY                                                                                                                                                           If you keep that attitude I’ll never let you use it. [bath]                                                                                                                                T.J.                                                                                                                                                         Be afraid. Be very afraid. (a moment)

and later when Ray discovers T.J. has nearly set their trailer on fire by melting the frozen pipes with his blowtorch, Ray is sensitive to T.J’s subtext about his father going away and talks to him about it, attempting to ease his hurt: (p78, l-9)

T.J                                                                                                                                                               You can’t have it. It’s mine.                                                                                             His eyes fill with tears, but his face stays tight. She grabs at it again, but he jerks it away.                  She pauses and stares at him.                                                                                                                                                                                                               RAY                                                                                                                                                                He was clean for 23 months                                                                                      They look at one another.                       RAY (CONT’D) (chokes back tears)                                                                                             I didn’t know how else to keep us together. I mean…he’s a good dad                                                          when he’s not gamblin’.                                                                                                         He cuts off the blow torch.                     T.J.                                                                                                                                                      Yeah, awesome dad. Robs us and takes off a week before Christmas.                  She walks up to him and wipes a tear from the side of his face. He shakes it off.

When the girls are finally caught, Ray makes the difficult and courageous decision to do her four months imprisonment for smuggling. She could pay a fine and avoid prison but would lose the option of the new trailer. She will endure the hardship of prison to gain a better home, and better life for her children. It may not be the double trailer she hoped for, but it will be a bigger and better home than their current one,  she won’t lose her deposit and Lila and the kids will have money to see them through a couple of months. Her decision also enables Lila to make the choice to re-claim her child. Lila has been expelled from the reservation for five years for smuggling, and it seems she will lose her child forever. She initially lets Ray go, and is prepared to face the consequences alone. Ray runs. Surrounded by frozen wilderness she reconsiders her choices. The river itself seams to moan as Ray makes her difficult decision. She returns to face imprisonment but enlists Lila to care for her children. A point of irony here is that Lila’s husband died doing a smuggling trip because Lila wanted a new crib for her coming baby. Now she will use Rays hand-me-downs from her own children. However, in doing so, she will reclaim her child and with Rays help and her Indian family Lila will rebuild her life and reclaim her motherhood.

Ray enlists the Mohawk man Bernie to help Lila negotiate the trailer purchase. The element of Mohawk support and lack of judgement towards the women’s choices is also an enabling strand to the story.

Ray shows her courage and principles in various ways. She throws the Pakistani’s backpack away in case they have explosives for terrorist activities. She is concerned for the women they smuggle who have been beaten and maltreated, her sympathy for them forcing her hand to proceed with the trip. Both women make the choice to rescue the lost baby. Ray is uncompromising in her choices and decisions on how to improve their lives and Lila is empowered by Ray’s courage. Ray’s husband is finally cast off and we feel great hope for both women at the end of the film.

They are not alone at the end, their mutual support empowers them both. Also, T.J. finds a sense of pride in repairing the swing for the younger children. He is shown compassion and taught a lesson by the Mohawks when confronted by the old and frail lady he has defrauded of money. He is treated as an adult by the Indians and he takes pride in repairing the swing. Lila and T.J. both smile for the first time, watching the kids play on the swing. There is more happiness coming as we see the truck delivering the new trailer to them.

I found the harsh coldness of this landscape a wonderful setting for the cold, brutal reality of these women’s lives. Their struggle to survive and improve their lives, is further complicated by the severity of the environment. A glimpse into Mohawk culture is a rare treasure, as is a story with such powerful, uncompromisingly tough women. Perhaps shot a little too tight and claustrophobic for my liking, I felt the landscape could have been utilised for greater visual impact. The extent of detail in the story is evidence of the thorough research undertaken and is a rare view into the lives of increasing numbers of Americans facing severe financial hardship.