Wind River (2017)

A wildlife officer teams up with an FBI agent in solving a murder of a young woman on a Wyoming Native American reservation.

Written & Directed: Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water, Yellowstone, Sicario)
Original Score: Nick Cave (Lawless, The Assassination of Jesse James, Yellowstone) & Warren Ellis (Hell or High Water, Lawless)
Cinematographer: Ben Richardson (Yellowstone)
Film Editor: Gary Roach (Invictus, American Sniper, Yellowstone)
Production Designer: Neil Spisak (Hancock, Spider-Man 1-3, Heat)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R, for strong violence, rape, disturbing images, and language
Starring: 

    Jeremy Renner as Cory Lambert    

    Elizabeth Olsen as Jane Banner

    Apesanahkwat as Dan Crowheart

    Tantoo Cardinal as Alice Crowheart

    Graham Greene as Lighthorse Officer Ben

    Gil Birmingham as Martin

There is a meadow in my perfect world

where wind dances the branches of a tree,

casting leopard spots of light across the face of a pond...

The tree stands tall and grand and alone,

shading the world beneath it.

There will come a day when I rest

against its spine and look out over a valley

where the sun warms, but never burns.....

I will watch leaves turn

Green, then amber, then crimson.

Then no leaves at all....

But the tree will not die

For in this place, winter never comes....

It is here, in the cradle of all I hold dear,

I guard every memory of you.

And when I find myself frozen in the mud of the real,

far from your loving eyes....

I will return to this place,

close mine, and take solace in the simple perfection
of knowing you.

Preface

I love showing my friends movies, especially ones that mean so much to me. But with the limited time and space that we have to get together and share the experience, I usually will choose a films that are more lighthearted and fun; the sort of experience you want to have with people you care about. Wind River is not one of those movies. 

It is still a movie that means a lot to me and one that I so desperately wish I could've seen in Sundance (or at least the theaters), but I think you could tell based on the MPAA rating above that this movie does not touch on fun topics. It is dark and heavy, and very hard to watch at times. However, reality has the tendency to be dark and cruel. We do not live in a neat and perfect world. I believe it is our duty to expose ourselves to things that make us uncomfortable; to look our sins in the eye and see it for what it really is. Otherwise we risk growing callous to it, complicit in the cycle of violence and oppression that permeates all levels of society. This is why Wind River is one of my most favorite movies, and a film that goes on my personal list of Required Viewing for American Adults. It tells a story that so desperately needed to be told so long ago, helping to bring attention to an issue that continues to this day all across the Americas.

Plot

Cory Lambert is a professional hunter, employed by Wyoming Fish and Wildlife. He is notified about a possible predator killing livestock on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and goes to investigate. What he finds instead is a horrifying crime scene in the mountains of Wind River that prompts the FBI to send agent Jane Banner to help tribal police investigate as a winter storm lands. 

I found myself feeling stressed and gritting my teeth about halfway through and I didn't really stop until the credits began to roll, so remember to relax your muscles and breathe every now and then.

Soundtrack & Score

The soundtrack in this movie is very minimal, mostly background music to add to the scenes they're in, no needle drops. For how small of a role it plays, I think what little there is works well in the scenes they are a part of. Solid 8/10.

The original score is the bread and butter of this entire movie. Cave and Ellis create a masterful score, blending familiarity with eeriness, subtly tugging at your soul with every note. The music has so much tension, but it also feels cold to me and really helps me feel the snow. If the scenes and plot aren't enough to drive you to the edge of your seat, the music will. Much of the music has this ghostly chorus to it, or even whispered poetic words, as if the dead are calling out to the characters or the audience. It makes it all the more chilling for me. Let's just say there is a reason I use this soundtrack in cold settings for my TTRPG's. To give Roach some credits here, silence also plays a wonderful part where it needs to be. Perfect 10/10 

Cinematography

Taking place in hauntingly beautiful Wyoming, Richardson makes the choice to have the landscape serve mostly as an accent piece. I think the landscape would've been an easy way to score some quick points, but instead the focus of the movie is much more often the faces of the characters, main and secondary. Focusing on their joy, their pain, horror, grief, anger. Landscape shots still exist, though mainly to show just how isolated the characters truly are; just little figures, alone in the snow. 9.5/10

Final Thoughts & Overall Rating

I am not a huge fan of the "white savior" stereotype. It's been done to death. It also feeds into a false narrative that we are helpless, that we need a white hero to step in and save us. Unfortunately this movie does fall into that stereotype, but there are a lot of reasons I am willing to accept this for this film in particular. For one, the natives in this movie are portrayed very fairly and realistically, something that has gotten a lot better over the last couple decades of film. Additionally, I don't think this movie would've been as popular as it ended up being without actors like Renner and Olsen being a part of it. Their presence in what ended up being a very small budget film was most likely because they believed in the film and in it's message.

I also wanted to address Taylor Sheridan's recent comments, where he insinuated that he is a large part of the reason the Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women movement (MMIW) has gotten as much attention as it has recently because he made this film. A white man trying to take away the work and dedication that so many First Nation peoples (especially native women) is nothing new, but it is a shame to see this film tainted with his ego. I believe the art of this movie transcends it's writer and director, and that is always how I choose to look at it. Taylor Sheridan does not get to own any part of this movement, and I hope the resounding rejection the indigenous community has given him reflects that.

Some final notes of praise for the actors Graham Greene, Apesanahkwat, Tantoo Cardinal, and Gil Birmingham for their consistently wonderful performances. I do not want to say much more about this movie, save for my final overall rating.

10/10 

Beaux Score: "Ouchie my soul. Respect women or die. 10 out of 10 movie. But I Did Not Enjoy."

¡Tierra de Aguafiestas! 

(Land of Spoilers)

On a second watch through, pay attention to the attitudes of the natives toward the white characters, the way they speak of their children and their things, & the conditions in which they live on the reservation throughout the movie. This is not hyperbole, it's a nation desperately trying to hang on to what little dignity it has left, trying to find something worth living for in the modern day.

On a final note regarding "the saving white man", Jane and Cory ultimately don't save anyone. In the end, almost nothing is resolved. Systematically, the problem remains. The women are still dead. The reservation is still poor. And I think that is an important note to end on, because systematic nature of it is an important fact that we have to accept if we ever want to see change. I love the final scene with Cory and Martin, two grieving fathers that have to find a reason to keep living.

Also well done to Jon Bernthal for his very brief but sweet role, and James Jordan for portraying one of the most hateable villains I have ever seen on screen.