Cross the Frozen River

In theaters Friday: The Last House on the Left, Race to Witch Mountain, Sunshine Cleaning, Miss March

New on DVD/Blu-ray: Cadillac Records, Let the Right One In, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Role Models, Synecdoche, New York

When most people reading this see the words “double wide” they — and I — might think of a trailer park joke, not a life goal. In newcomer Courtney Hunt’s acclaimed indie drama Frozen River, Ocsar-nominee Melissa Leo stars as a gruff mother of two whose husband leaves her 10 days before Christmas and struggles to make ends meet. Working in a dollar store on the border of New York state, Canada and a sparsely populated Mohawk reservation, Leo’s hardscrabble existence is defined by three goals: finding her husband-in-absentia, caring sufficiently for her kids and saving enough money to move them into a more spacious double wide trailer.

When a Mohawk woman attempts to steal her husband’s car, Leo’s pursuit leads her into a life of smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S. in exchange for fast cash. Leo and an equally down-on-her-luck Mohawk woman partner in the dangerous business. They pile Asians into the trunk of her car on Mohawk land and dumping them off at a seedy motel in upstate New York. Pushed to the limits, Leo’s suddenly single mother compromises any of her values that conflict with her ultimate goal of providing a better life for her two boys.

The film’s rundown patina reminded me of David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls, except where Girls lingered on the warm summer nostalgia echoed by the esoteric dialogue of attractive 20-somethings, Frozen River is dredged through all the harsh realities of suffering on the anchor of Leo’s weathered 48-year-old visage.

Hers is a remarkable performance, but one so difficult to watch. Like Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino showed lingering racism in America, Frozen River reminds us of the middle and upper classes that a lot of less-fortunate folks are really suffering right now, emotional setbacks and financial odds not even the Stanford Group would have promised a way through. Throughout, Leo’s soul seems as desolate and ice-covered a Hunt’s eerie, winter white landscapes.

And as Leo’s cat-and-mouse game with local police escalates in the finale, she is forced to sacrifice more than her moral code to do what is best for her family and her new Mohawk friend. I’m sure the Academy dismissed Leo’s chances of winning thinking that “her award is just being nominated,” like they’ve done with other deserving performers who aren’t exactly movie stars. Regardless, if you appreciate a riveting character study and a premise that could be a documentary on poverty in America, Frozen River should make your short list this week.