Respond to these rapid questions in our Leave No Trace quiz and we will tell you which Leave No Trace character you are. Play it now.
Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik in 2010, was a bleak, powerful film that introduced Jennifer Lawrence to a wider audience through her self-assured performance as a 17-year-old girl trying to keep her family together in the economically devastated Ozarks. In the following year, Granik released the documentary “Stray Dog,” which depicted the psychological struggles of Vietnam veteran and civil rights activist Ron Hall. Granik’s work contains genuine social and political critique, which is made even more apparent by the fact that she focuses on individuals. Her new film, “Leave No Trace,” which is based on the 2009 novel My Abandonment by Peter Rock, combines elements of “Winter’s Bone” and “Stray Dog,” with the young girl living off the grid and the troubled veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as the central characters. “Leave No Trace” is, at times, heartbreaking, but it’s also filled with glimpses of almost casual human kindness, throwaway moments of good will and inclusion piercing through what could be the bleakest of tales. “Leave No Trace” is a must-see film for anyone interested in environmental issues. Granik demonstrates great insight into the struggles of those who choose to “opt out,” those who simply want to be left alone, and those who literally can’t “fit in” to the larger world in which they live in. At its best, it is a profoundly moving portrait of a father and daughter who are deeply in love with one another and who can’t bear to be separated from one another.
The film begins in a forest of proliferating wet trees and moss, a thick impenetrable wall of green that turns out to be a public park in the city of Portland, in the state of Oregon. A tarp and a propane tank surround Will (Ben Foster) and his 13-year-old daughter Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) as they begin to chop wood, play chess, and gather mushrooms in the wilderness they’ve created for themselves. The opening sequence is almost entirely devoid of dialogue, allowing us to gain an intimate understanding of their daily routines, their nonverbal communication, and their mutual understanding. Their sleeping bags are filled with blankets, and they cuddle up for warmth as the rain pours down on their tent. They take a stroll into town to get groceries. Will gets by selling prescription drugs to people who live in a tent city on the outskirts of the park, where he earns his living. Although life is difficult, the bond that exists between father and daughter is undeniable. These two actors are so in sync with one another, so mentally connected, that you believe they are father and daughter, and that they have been living in the woods for months, if not years, together. Because the intimacy between them is so palpable, they are filled with apprehension about what might be waiting for them outside the forest’s perimeter. Granik’s story is grounded in reality, with attention paid to the specifics of their lives. It’s as if they are a single entity.
Their world, on the other hand, is a fragile Eden, and when a jogger spots Tom one day, the police arrive and raid their makeshift camp, taking Will and Tom into custody for questioning. Tom is placed in a juvenile detention center for female adolescents, and Will is subjected to a battery of psychological tests. A startling contrast occurs when the forest is abruptly replaced by the fluorescent lights of well-intentioned but incompetent human bureaucracy. Granik’s presentation, on the other hand, is distinctive. It is possible that the public expects bureaucracy to be presented as heartless and cold, and in some ways, this is true to some extent. After all is said and done, two teenage girls approach Tom and ask if she would like to join them in creating their “dream boards.” Tom says yes, and they ask if she would like to join them. They offer her a piece of construction paper as a gift. And Will, who feels completely out of place at a computer and is struggling to answer the hundreds of questions that have been put to him, is guided through the process by a social worker. Leave No Trace is full of quiet moments like this, but it avoids the trap of being overtly “heartwarming” in its sentimentality. People can be cruel at times, to be sure, but they can also be kind at other times.
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Thanks to a kind stranger who steps forward after reading about them in the newspaper and offers Ben a job and a place to live on his Christmas tree farm, Will and Tom are reunited. Ben works, staring at the bound-up Christmas trees flying through the air into a truck, and you don’t need to hear any dialogue to feel his sense of isolation and longing to be back in the woods with his wife and children. Meanwhile, Tom befriends a local farm kid, who invites her to one of his 4-H meetings, where the kids bring their rabbits to show off to the adults. It’s a big hit with her. Will finds society to be as confining as Procrustes’ bed to be in. You can sense how much the presence of four walls and a ceiling annoys him, and how he won’t be able to bear it for much longer than necessary.
Leave No Trace Quiz
Debra Granik treats the story with a delicate touch, while still establishing the film in a reality that is almost documentary-like in its presentation. She doesn’t “hammer things home,” instead allowing events to unfold naturally. Neither is there any didactic preaching about the evils of the world to be found (as “Captain Fantastic,” another film about a father who chooses to live off the grid with his children, indulged in). The critique of society can be found in the material, but it is implicit rather than explicitly stated. The way the culture treats its wounded warriors is a disgrace, but Tom is a child, and that is a blessing in disguise. She does not attend a formal educational institution. It is necessary for the culture to be concerned about her as well. During Will’s continued defiance, even in the face of kindness, Tom is torn almost in half by her desire to learn about the world and her attachment to her father, which almost causes her to split. In the role of Will, Ben Foster, who has established himself as a consistently excellent character actor, delivers one of the year’s best performances. McKenzie is a young girl who appears to have emerged from real life. She doesn’t have a trace of the precocious child actress about her. What a wonderful find she has been.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Leave No Trace quiz.
Outsiders have long been a beloved mythic trope in our culture, ranging from characters like Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield to films like “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Easy Rider” to the Beat Generation. As a result, these figures reject the constraints of conformity and the comforts of middle-class life, living by their wits and following the wind. As a result of their intense bond, the thought of Will and Tom being separated is devastating. You’re left wondering how they’ll make it through. Will believes that as long as they are camping in the woods together, his demons will be kept at bay by the nature of the situation. However, time is running out. Tom is becoming a man. Everyone is responsible for making their own decisions. In “Leave No Trace,” Granik creates a specific mood that is both gloomy and yet redemptive at the same time, sometimes at the same time. The process of redemption, on the other hand, is painful because it comes at such a high cost.
About the quiz
The final shot lends the film’s title an almost tragic resonance, which is appropriate given the subject matter.Also, you must try to play this Leave No Trace quiz.
For more personality quizzes check this: Unbroken Path To Redemption Quiz.
