Wind River (2017)

When the corpse of a young woman is found on a Wyoming Native American reservation, a young FBI agent, Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen), is tasked with figuring out exactly what happened. She is helped by a wildlife officer, Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), and accompanied during her investigation by a tribal police chief, Ben (Graham Greene). Banner runs into a lot of resistance as she tries to solve the case, from the Native Americans who distrust her to the local medical examiner who refuses to class the death as a homicide, despite it seeming fairly obvious. There's also the crowd of men who work on a nearby drilling site to deal with, especially when it comes to light that the victim was apparently dating one of them.

This is a film written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, and it's worth noting here that there's a lot to discuss and pick apart when it comes to Sheridan's decisions here, both behind the camera and while discussing his film as it pertains to the horrible statistics that show just how many Indigenous women are abused, raped, and/or murdered in comparison to other ethnic demographics (and I know I should grasp some better, more humane, wording, but I am navigating this paragraph as best I can). I'm not going to dig too deep into Sheridan's psyche, but I will say that others with greater insight than myself have praised some of his intentions while also criticizing him for some of his casting and his contribution to the common pattern of "dying Indians" presented throughout cinema.

With that said, let's get back to the standard film review. Wind River is, for the most part, an enjoyable and interesting thriller that, for me, mixes in some really worthwhile explorations of the Native American way of life, whether that is tied to how they are viewed/misunderstood by others, and how they shouldn't have to tolerate those wandering into their lives and culture with no knowledge of either, or whether it's trying to convey how they process different types of grief. Although it speaks more to my own blind spots than anything else, I didn't consider the troublesome elements (e.g. the aforementioned "dying Indian" trope, the casting) while everything was playing out. Would the film have been better with someone else cast in the role played by Renner? Yes, but I could say that about almost any film that has Renner in it. I do think his casting probably helped to fund/sell the film, and I think his position as an outsider who managed to integrate into the community does offer an extra angle to everything that ultimately makes it a good decision.

It's useful that the film casts such a fantastic ensemble around Renner nonetheless, and almost every other main performer delivers something better than the "big name". Olsen is allowed to act unsure and awkward without ever seeming incapable, and she does a great job with a role that could have easily been sorely mishandled. Greene is always a welcome screen presence, and he's dependably fantastic here, as are Gil Birmingham, Kelsey Asbille, Julia Jones, Jon Bernthal, and James Jordan, all namechecked here because they each have at least one or two moments that allow them to prove how good they can be.

You could argue at length about who would be a better choice to tell this story, as well as what could have been improved, but I am going to simply appreciate what we have here. That doesn't stop me from seeking out other cinematic voices, and I encourage everyone to do just that at every opportunity, but I definitely think that this works brilliantly as a crime thriller, as a look at a problem that more people should be reminded or made aware of, and as a springboard for conversation. There's also a lot to appreciate on a purely technical level, including some crisp and beautiful cinematography from Ben Richardson and a score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Very much worth your time, as long as you can stomach the more disturbing scenes, and very much worth discussing, even if you end up completely disagreeing with my own opinion of it.

8/10

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