Winter's Bone: Life in a Shatter Zone

On a cold and rainy Saturday morning, I watched Winter's Bone.  I was curious about this critically acclaimed  movie from 2010 that I had no access to when it was first released.

A search for more information turned up a very interesting article by Michael Moon and Colin Talley from Emory University entitled Life in a Shatter Zone: Debra Granik's Film Winter's Bone.

From the Article:

Overview:

In their review of the 2010 independent film Winter’s Bone, Michael Moon and Colin Talley draw upon the concept of the “shatter zone” in order to illuminate the local features of the film as well as to locate its place in the history of hill regions as sites of refuge and resistance. This review finds additional contexts for the film in regional music and the long-established "dark-fairytale" tradition of the Appalachians and the Ozarks.

Spoiler alert: this review contains details of the plot.

I highly recommend that you give this article a read. I was particularly interested in the concepts of the totemic animals - from the deer on Ree's sweater, to the carved horn neclace, to the antlers hanging from the mirror of her uncle's truck. 

Did you see Winter's Bone? What did you think?