Frozen Viewer

I wanted to hate Frozen River. I started mocking it during the first frame. Why did I have this hostility? I'm not sure. I didn't read more than a couple of reactions when it was first being buzzed about and I didn't know much about it except that it was about a down-on-her-luck mom smuggling folks across the border and that it had won the grand jury prize at Sundance.

My feelings were probably based on an inherent distrust of Sundance-style American "indie" films.

But, Frozen River is surprising. It really is thrilling, from the first encounter between Ray and Lila on through to their last smuggling job. It's all believable. The miracle of this film is that even the unbelievable in the center of the film becomes believable.

While caught up in the tension, I began to waffle on whether or not the film would keep me or lose me. The centerpiece of the film is a scene in which Ray and Lila are transporting "Pakis" (Pakistanis) instead of Chinese. As usual, the two being smuggled stay in the trunk, but their bag is taken from them and placed in the back seat. Ray doesn't trust what these Middle Easterners will do in her country, so she stops the car midpoint through the smuggling operation and throws their duffel bag out onto the ice. Sure enough, when everyone arrives at the destination, it's discovered that there was a baby in that duffel bag. Ray and Lila need to go back and find the baby.

They do. They find the bag and they find the baby. The baby appears dead. In the car, Ray prompts Lila to hold the baby close and give it warmth, so that at the very least they can return the baby warm. All of this is intercut with scenes of one of Ray's boys almost burning their trailer down. The drama is about as tense as it can get, but it's also about as contrived as it can get. But, then the miraculous happens. The baby starts to gurgle. The baby's alive!!! Then, the house doesn't burn. The audience is relieved of all of its tension. And it feels good, but I also feel cheated. That baby was dead, damn it. Dead means dead. Ray insists that, no, the baby was never dead. It was only cold.

But, we don't believe it. Neither does Lila Littlewolf. She replies, matter of factly, that the baby was indeed dead. It was dead. Dead. Now, it's alive. This is true. This is a gift from the Creator. And it's at this moment that Frozen River became something alive to me, never pausing in its entertainment, but slowing down a moment to present some truth. This moment speaks of a great self-awareness on the part of director Courtney Hunt, risking exposing herself as one who can make us believe that a child is dead and then make us believe that the child is alive the next moment, all the while signaling the happy ending which is to come.

I base all of my goodwill toward this film on a few words of text spoken by the Lila character, most of which I can't even recall now. Still. Watch Frozen River. It's worth it.