The best socially provocative films do not wear a patch on their sleeves announcing them as such. I am speaking of indies such as Vera Drake and Naked, both written and directed by Mike Leigh, or Matewan, written and directed by John Sayles.

Winter’s Bone is in that league.

Based on the gritty short novel of the same name by Daniel Woodrell, Winter’s Bone is directed and co-written by Debra Granik (Down To The Bone starring Vera Farmiga) and Anne Rossellini (who also co-produced). Industry veteran Alix Madigan-Yorkin (co-producer), whose credits include Neil LaBute’s Your Friends And Neighbors provided a steady hand throughout the creative process.

Shot entirely in the Ozarks of Southwestern Missouri, the low-budget Winter’s Bone has racked up Sundance’s 2010 Grand Jury Prize as well as the prestigious Waldo Salt Screening Award.

On the surface, the film is a simply told tale of a daughter seeking her missing father. 17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) must find her meth-cooking dad, who has put their house up as collateral for his bail. Ree must locate him before she, her disabled mother and her two young siblings are tossed out into the cold Ozark winter. The search for her outlaw dad takes her through a harrowing trail of loose-knit kin, crazed Vietnam vets, and meth addicts who would sooner kill her as serve her venison stew.

A subdued scene with an actual military recruiter -- which finds Ree attempting to enlist in order to resolve her overwhelming problems -- should leave a massive patriotic lump in your throat. Another key scene that features Ree and some Deliverance-looking relatives rowing through a murky cold swamp at night may haunt you for years to come.

Stunningly exquisite performances, a fantastic soundtrack (including a haunting rendition of the traditional “Farther Along” by Marideth Sisco) and the earthy textural cinematography of Michael McDonough (with the RED camera) clearly make Winter’s Bone the indie film of the year.

For whatever it’s worth to you, in recent weeks Oscar whispers have faintly heard as audiences exited various screening rooms around this town.

Every once and awhile a diamond emerges from the rough world of American indie cinema. Winter’s Bone can cut glass.

[Winter’s Bone opens Friday June 11th at the Lincoln Square and Sunshine Theaters in New York and at The Landmark Theater in Los Angeles.]

Mark Groubert is a screenwriter currently living and working in Los Angeles.

The sickness that permeates the extreme religious right never stops surprising me. We've seen Wiley Drake's shtick before, but it's still as repulsive as ever. What type of religion do these freaks practice anyway?

Southern Baptist Pastor Wiley Drake of Buena Park sent out an email Monday night, saying that perhaps his prayers had been answered with the death of Rep. John Murtha yesterday.

“Maybe God took him out,” Drake wrote. “Maybe God Answered our IMPRECATORY prayer that we prayed every 30 days.”

The Pennsylvania congressman, a decorated former Marine who fiercely opposed the Iraq war, died at the age of 77 after complications from gallbladder surgery.

I asked Drake if his statements weren’t distasteful, particularly coming immediately after Murtha’s death. He said that as a Christian, he didn’t buy into the sentiment of not speaking ill of the dead.

“It’s not distasteful to pray the word of God and include somebody’s name,” he said. “I didn’t celebrate his death. I said maybe it was God’s answer to our imprecatory prayer.”

Drake regularly asks his “prayer warriors” to participate in prayer targeting “unrighteous” politicians. He typically uses Psalms 109, including these passages including in his Monday email: “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” And, “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”

At one point, Drake prayed for the death of President Barack Obama. However, he dropped that because he wants to see Obama faces charges that he is not a natural-born citizen and so cannot be president. Drake has such a lawsuit on appeal. Drake said he and his prayer warriors had been praying for Murtha’s death for four or five months. Among other things, Drake said Murtha’s use of profanity and his use of God’s name in vain. Beside praying for the death of specific politicians, he said they pray for “politicians in general who are taking unrighteous stands

The recently deceased Murtha found his way onto his radar because he curses? Takes the Lord's name in vain? Jesus. I'm sure I must be on his radar also. If not, Pastor Drake, go f*&k yourself. We posted his hate-filled sermon in which he wished President Obama to die in the above video on June 12th, 2009.

Colmes: ...you then said, I asked for whom else are you praying in that fashion and you said President Obama. Are you praying for his death?

Drake: Yes.

Colmes: So you're praying for the death of the president of the United States?

Drake: Yes. Are you concerned that by saying that you might find yourself on some secret service call or FBI most wanted list. Do you think it's appropriate to say something like that or even pray for something like that?

Drake: I think it's appropriate to pray for the will of God. I'm not saying anything, what I'm doing is repeating what God is saying, if that puts me on somebodies list then I'll just have to be on their list.

Colmes: You would like for the president of the United States to die?

Drake: If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around I am asking God to enforce in imprecatory prayers throughout the scripture that would cause him death, that's correct.

Rep. Thelma Drake wants Angelina Jolie to come testify to Congress on Iraq.

Nothing like calling in the experts to get to the bottom of things. Good to see she's taking the plight of Iraqis seriously.

"They are interested in your stuff, however, and sooner or later, they will swamp your kind out of existence." Sadly No on the dwindling honkie tribe.

Jesus' General's effort to seek guidance from Wiley S Drake results in little satisfaction.

Marc McDonald looks at how FOX blew it's chance at credibility.

You'll want to save this for when you've got more than a minute - Blue Herald's massive new Right Wing Cartoon Watch

And finally, it's a passing as sad as any, and as I hold the final issue of the Weekly World News in my hands, I must try hard to think about the good times, even though the grave of Elvis grows a bit colder, and Bigfoot trudges sadly through the frozen tundra which scientists predict will be a tropical paradise next year after the reversal of the magnetic poles. When again shall we see the everyman outrage of Ed Anger, who introduced the phrase "pig-bitin' mad" to the English lexicon? Or the sage advice of Dottie, who routinely advised the lovelorn that their best course of action would be suicide? So long, Bat Boy. Branches Up, Roots Down offers the eulogy.

Guest blogged by Mark Hoback. Send tips to mhoback AT verizon Dot net.

We haven't done a Holy Crap at the blog round-up for a while, and lately the great blog Talk2Action has had some doozys:

An evangelical group promoted by the Pentagon to "entertain the troops" has violent, homoerotic t-shirts available.

Reverend Wiley Drake, former Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention (yeah.) is calling for "imprecatory prayer" against church/state separation advocates Americans United. Wiley mentions that his followers should pray for God to "smite" the AU folks. Punchline: Drake was challenged by AU for using church letterhead to endorse Mike Huckabee.

I was having a hard time holding back the laughs before, and then the General wrote one of his special missives to Drake.