Places that stand out for their exceptional natural beauty are often beautiful precisely because there are no people there to spoil that natural beauty. These are typically inaccessible jungles, deserts, wetlands, mountains, or forests where few people live except those who have no choice. Their lives are not only exceptionally hard but often short and frequently violent. However, this state of affairs has proven extraordinarily beneficial to filmmakers, and perhaps most of all to Western writers. Wind River, a 2017 film written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, unfolds on one such Western-style location. While it contains many Western elements, Taylor Sheridan’s film nominally belongs to the thriller genre, blended with strong social drama.
The film’s title refers to its setting, the eponymous reservation occupying a large part of the U.S. state of Wyoming, home to members of the Arapaho Native American nation. The protagonist is Corey Lambert (Jeremy Renner), a wildlife officer with the US Fish and Wildlife Service whose job involves hunting problematic wolves, elk, bears, and other predators. Lambert is one of the rare white people who knows the reservation well; thanks to his job, he has not only grown close to the local community but also started a family with an Arapaho woman. This makes it especially agonising for him when, during a routine hunt in the mountainous wilderness, he discovers the corpse of Natalie Hanson (Kelsey Chow), a young Native American woman who clearly suffered a violent death. Since he knew both the girl and her family, he offers help to Ben (Graham Greene), the chief of the small tribal police force, in investigating the case. The tribal police, however, lack jurisdiction over the federal reservation, so they are joined by FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen), who arrives poorly equipped and inexperienced to investigate a violent crime in the snow-covered wilderness of the reservation.
The opening disclaimer states that Wind River was inspired by real events. Taylor Sheridan explained this was prompted by numerous unsolved cases of missing Native American women in reservations, as federal and other agencies seemingly neglect to track such cases in their statistics, unlike with other demographic groups. The film does not hide its commitment to exposing the dire conditions in Native American reservations, where life amid untouched nature offers little solace to residents struggling with social neglect. The cycle of alcoholism, drug addiction, and violence traps communities in a self-perpetuating loop.
Sheridan’s film, however, never crosses the line into overt “politically correct” agitprop, functioning largely as a conventional crime thriller. Though Wind River was screened at the Cannes Festival, it lacks the artsy pretension typical of many festival films, save for a briefly disorienting flashback near the end and an overly pretentious Nick Cave and Warren Ellis soundtrack. The screenplay avoids overcomplicating the detective mystery, which hinges more on coincidence and the perpetrator’s foolishness than any particular brilliance by the investigators.
Sheridan prioritized atmosphere and creating memorable characters over conceptual brilliance. Jeremy Renner shines as Lambert, delivering one of his career’s most positive and closest-to-classic-Western-hero performances. Renner, who wears a cowboy hat throughout, is let down by Elizabeth Olsen’s underwhelming portrayal of her nominal partner. Despite her talent, Olsen’s character—contrary to Hollywood’s “strong female” clichés—remains mostly decorative eye candy until a violent climax forces her into relevance. Gill Birmingham, known for playing Jacob’s father in Twilight, delivers a brilliant performance as the grieving father of the murdered girl, desperately clinging to dignity amid unimaginable loss.
Thanks to its stellar acting and solid direction, Wind River deserves recommendation as one of Hollywood’s rare achievements: a film that uses striking visuals to remind audiences of uncomfortable truths.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here.)
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