Dead Of Winter: Grief, Survival and Woman Power In A Winter Wilderness

In recent years in Hollywood, there have been fewer scripts for the more mature actresses in leading roles. But finally, a suspenseful, heart stopping and action-packed thriller has broken that mould. Dead Of Winter has arrived in cinemas, providing audiences with a cinematic offering like no other, which portrays the protagonist as a Rambo-style heroine.

Directed by Brian Kirk, the film stars Emma Thompson as an aging widow named Barb who travels to an isolated lake to scatter the ashes of her late husband. Cut off by a blizzard she comes across a small hut in which two shady characters have abducted a female teenager. The pace accelerates once Barb sees the damsel in distress and attempts to rescue her, in the process risking her own life.

Why was the young teenager abducted? What sinister plan do these villains want to put into action?

The nail-biting suspense from the opening scene right until the sinister finale should keep audiences at the edge of their seats. The reason for the girl’s abduction is hinted at the beginning, but the complete hideous plan is revealed in the finale which elevates the film to horror status, owing to the repugnant elements.

For optimum enjoyment audiences must leave their ‘reality meters’ switched off. The idea that a woman in her 60s is able to smash down doors, fight profusely with two strong antagonists, and constantly run around snowy forests and a frozen lake, is laughably inconceivable. She dubiously has the strength and resilience of any male screen hero!

A scene borrowed from the Rambo feature film where Barb performs a surgical procedure on her arm with a fishing hook is nauseating and may have the more squeamish audiences turn away in disgust. “Just like sewing a quilt,” she tells herself, arousing nervous laughter in the darkened cinema.

Flashbacks detailing Barb’s romance and further progressing to the tragedies which befell her are cleverly and intermittently edited into the film. Themes of grief, survival in the most extreme of conditions and redemption resonate.

The picturesque desolate and icy wintry landscape utilised as the backdrop to the story is an ominous character in itself, yet mesmerising to watch, which also compounds to the dark nature of the narrative. The isolation prolongs the unsettling feeling that the audience is right there amongst the violence and action.

Whoever said that acting is glamorous? Emma Thompson had to face the freezing cold filming locations, not to mention all the laborious acting requirements. She delivers a powerhouse performance as the determined and resourceful heroine who will stop at nothing to rescue the teenager.

A strong blizzard, no phone service, no car, hours from the closest town – would you stop to help free a kidnapped teenager?

Dead Of Winter

***1/2

Dead Of Winter  is in cinemas from November 27.