Leave No Trace (Review)
Leave No Trace is a Film that Definitely Leaves a Mark.
Director Debra Granik has done it again with Leave No Trace. The director made quite a splash with her 2010 hit Winter’s Bone that helped launch the career of Jennifer Lawrence. This time around Granik trades in the Ozark mountain for the Pacific Northwest, but still manages to capture the survivalist themes that made Winter’s Bone so enthralling. The most notable difference is that Granik swaps out the ravages of a meth community for mental health issues in a failing system.
Ben Foster has had a bit of an odd career over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy but if you ask me which of his movies are my favorites, that’s going to require a trip to IMDB to refresh my memory. However, with Leave No Trace I think he’s managed to give us a performance that will long be remembered as one of the best of his careers (though he was pretty intense in Hostiles and Hell or High Water). The film features Foster as Will, a veteran facing such severe PTSD that he can’t function in “normal” society. Because of that, he has adopted a survivalist lifestyle alongside his daughter, Tom, played by Thomasin McKenzie. The two seem perfectly fine living out their days in the middle of the forest, but the government seems to have different ideas when they discover the two.
More than anything Leave No Trace is a film about how society fails those that need the most help. As I mentioned, Foster is a vet with severe PTSD, which he demonstrates with a brilliantly stoic performance. However, when he’s forced back into society there is never any attempt to help solve his underlying problem. Instead, he’s forced to jump through hoops in order to prove that he can be a so-called normal member of society. Of course, it’s also made perfectly clear that he’s actually proven to be quite a good father, even though the system tries not to acknowledge that Tom is actually ahead of where she should be when it comes to academics at her age. Instead, they seem more worried about her social skills, something which she might lack, but I’ve met plenty of adults who are way worse (just take a look at any White House official right now). However, it’s this social aspect that starts to cause a rift between Will and Tom as it soon becomes evident that while he might be a good father, he can’t provide what his daughter truly needs.
What makes Leave No Trace so damn good is that it’s not a spectacle. It’s a story that seems like one of those tales where the truth might just be stranger than fiction. However, it’s the human element that makes this such an exceptional film. Granik and Anne Rosellini write such rich characters that it’s hard not to identify with them immediately, even if there’s no way to possibly relate to their larger stories. Will is a character suffering tremendously from an invisible illness and still tries desperately to provide for his daughter. However, even in his selflessness, he proves to be a provider in all the wrong ways. He’s a loner and because of that, he forces his daughter to be the same way. Because she didn’t know any better when it was just the two of them, she’s happy to indulge his lifestyle. However, when she finally gets a chance to experience what it’s like to be, well, normal kid things start to change. Because of this, Leave No Trace is also a movie about growing up and how painful that can be for both parents and kids.
As good as Leave No Trace is, it’s not an easy film to watch and I mean that in the highest possible praise. It’s so hard because it’s a tale we can all relate to in a number of ways. Tom struggles with realizing that her father, this pillar of strength and virtue, isn’t the perfect role model for her and it proves to be the most painful realization of her life. The same struggle applies to Will as he slowly comes to terms with the fact that he might not be the best person to raise his daughter. These painful struggles are offset by the beautiful scenery of the forest that Granik purposefully lingers on in a number of scenes. This creates an odd sense of serenity that doesn’t numb the overall message of Leave No Trace but instead make it all the easier to take in without having a total breakdown in the face of the Will and Tom’s crisis.
Leave No Trace is a powerful film. One that is incredibly insightful and moving. As I mentioned, it’s not an easy movie to watch and is one that I’m going to need time before revisiting again. However, you shouldn’t let that deter you from seeking out this amazing film (which is available on Amazon Prime). While it might not be the most feel-good movie, it’s one that reminds us all that
