Mikes Film Talk

The 2017 Western/Drama/Tragedy Wind River by Taylor Sheridan works mainly because of Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen. A year before Sheridan smacked the world upside the head with Yellowstone, But he moved us with Wind River. Byron says in Don Juan. “And if I laugh at any mortal thing, Tis that I may not weep; and if I weep…”

You will weep friends and neighbours. By the film’s end, you will have wept and gotten angry. Before the end credits roll, you will be, should be, outraged. The information about Native American women who are wives, daughters and mothers going missing is beyond criminal. It is still happening today and no one seems to be bothered by it.

Why?

The Wind River Story

A Fish and Game officer helps an agent from the FBI solve a murder case. A young girl found dead in the snowy mountains. She had been running barefoot in the deep snow. Raped, beaten and dying a horrible death, both law enforcement officers want to find her killers.

The Wind River Cast

Jeremy Renner is Cory Lambert.

Elizabeth Olsen is Jane Banner.

Graham Greene is Ben.

Kelsey Asbille is Natalie.

Julia Jones is Wilma.

Teo Briones is Casey.

Gil Birmingham is Martin.

Jon Bernthal is Matt.

Let’s Talk Wind River

This film is pretty darn grim. IMDb lists it as a contemporary western and a tragedy. It is definitely both. Lambert’s ex is Arapaho. She apparently left him after their 16 year old daughter was murdered. Grief, Lambert tells Martin is something you own. The Fish and Game Warden owns his. He is stoic and taciturn by nature, perhaps because he has to be. He hunts predators.

Banner may be a junior FBI field agent but she has guts and heart. Ben points out that the agent also has compassion. She asks Lambert to help find who killed Natalie. He agrees and the two become a very dissimilar team. She from Florida and he acclimatized to Wyoming, are pretty much opposites. He identifies with the Arapaho. Sort of like a modern “Dances with Wolves” kind of guy. He respects their culture and accepts it as his own.

Taylor Sheridan shows us just why Yellowstone, Sicario, Hell or High Water, Landman, 1883, et al work so well. This man has more hits than Carter’s got little pills. He wears a coat of many colours and wears it well. But underneath all this hyperbole, Sheridan sells westerns, in many guises.

A Change

Perhaps the best thing about the film is the move to make Jon Bernthal a sympathetic character. His role as the love interest of Natalie allows him to really shine. Certainly he was almost charming in Sicario (2015) but ultimately he turned out to be on the wrong side. His character in both Accountant films, 1 and 2, is anything but charming. Funny at times he may be but his character, in Accountant 2, would get old fast.

Renner manages to make any character whose shoes he fills seem real. He underplays artfully and skillfully. So to does the late Graham Greene. Olsen has got chops for days and she is still to reach her peak.

Casting is pretty much King/Queen. Here Sheridan shows that he knows who works well. Some of the cast are almost regulars. Changing his “western” vibes to an Arapaho reservation is key here. Reminding us that the dynamic between races is not to be misunderstood.

The Verdict

Wind River is a solid 5. Sheridan refrains for having a pointless affair between the two leads. He remains focused on the real story. The disappearances of young Native American, or Indigenous if you prefer, women. Women that no one seem to care about. It is essentially a world of apathy.

The film is streaming on Fawesome and Netflix right now.

The Trailer