It’s the vehicle (made from 1990-95) used in the transport of illegal immigrants smuggled across the U.S.-Canadian border in the new movie, Frozen River.
Frozen River features the story of Ray Eddy, an upstate New York trailer mom lured into illegal immigrant smuggling when she meets a Mohawk girl who lives on a reservation that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border.
Broke after her husband leasves with the down payment for their new doublewide trailer Ray teams with Lila, a smuggler. The two begin making runs across the frozen St. Lawrence River carrying illegal Chinese and Pakistani immigrants in the trunk of Ray’s Dodge Spirit.
The reason the two women use a Dodge Spirit is because it has big, deep trunk.
Beyond the use of the the non-descript car, the movie is well done and the performance of lead actress, Melissa Leo, has been bantered around as an early contender for Academy Award consideration.
James Raia
A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004. In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida. An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.