FAQ

Frozen River is based on a script written by the director, Courtney Hunt. The script was originally shot as a 15-minute short and later expanded into a full-length film.

It was a plastic dinosaur. The snicker when Ray (Melissa Leo) saw it was merely an indication that she had found the right car.

Chopper (or PC) refers to Price Chopper, a chain of grocery stores headquartered in Rotterdam, New York, with a presence in New York state, New England, and eastern Canada. It is currently the nicest grocery store in Plattsburgh, New York, where Frozen River was filmed.

Lila (Misty Upham) mentions that her mother-in-law took the baby home from the hospital and was raising it. The question of "Why?" is not directly addressed in the movie. Most viewers conclude that the mother-in-law blamed Lila for the baby's father dying when he fell through the ice and so Lila, out of guilt, let her mother-in-law raise the baby to compensate for the loss of her own son.

The previous answer does not make sense because they did not live in Canada. It appears the woman who was the victim of his credit card scam was from the Mohawk reservation and the officer was part of their police force. Rather than charge the boy with a criminal offence, they chose to let him off with a warning and apology to the victim.

Tota is a Mohawk word meaning something like "dear one". In the context of the movie, she is referring to her mother-in-law, who would be her son's grandmother.

The song, which was written for the film, is called Ray's Echo. It was co-written by Keri Latimer (words and melody) and Shahzad Ismaily (chords) and performed by Latimer (vocals) and Ismaily (guitars, electric bass, and percussion). Latimer is from the band Leaf Rapids, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.