A young girl, Ree Dolly (played by a stripped down, tired-looking Lawrence) has to take on sadistic drug gangs and each and every guy has ice water in his veins. Her goal is to find her meth-selling father who suspiciously disappeared leaving the family sunk in poverty and debt.

At the same time she has to fend for her little brother and sister and their mute traumatised mother. Does Dee come out on top? Can she hack all the chips stacked against her? Can she find her father despite the sullen code of silence she endures?

And can she battle the Ozark drug barons especially when they come laden with crackerbarrel names such as Thump, Little Arthur or Teardrop? It isn’t a pretty world displayed by director Debra Granik. As a matter of fact it is downright ugly, desperate and compulsively watchable.

But there is a minute crack of humanity and sunlight in this dark film. And it comes from a very unexpected source. Watch it. And realise how the United States is not so united, not full of rainbows.