The main character's demeanor sets the tone of the movie in the first scene – no dialog necessary.
The scenes that shortly follow not only show the details of Ray's life and personality but also that she’s on the edge of despair and misery. The gun she carries around, although a bit over-used, reflects her attitude about how to get what she wants in life. It’s a dog eat dog world and she’s going to fight her way through it. At this point we’re not surprised when she decides to smuggle illegals from Canada treating them like merchandise that is merely delivered. This aspect of Ray is so strongly portrayed that we have a hard time believing that she would turn herself in at the end just to save Lila. Ray's relationship with Lila evolves from antagonism to partners in crime but very little was shown to convince us that she considered her a friend and that she would be willing to go to jail for her. The signs of her transformation are very subtle and it is left to us -the viewers - to fill in the blanks. With that said I cannot deny that Ray’s situation at the end is as dire as at the beginning of the movie and as a viewer I was somehow brought to a point where I was compelled to think that she should go back to redeem herself, otherwise she is lost. And she did exactly that. Does that excuse leaving out some important scenes to show us her transformation? I don’t think so. Overall, this is a powerful movie with a strong theme and a simple story.
