Wind River Review
A murder mystery that reveals deeper injustice
Quick Review: Wind River is a suspenseful mystery/drama about the unusual death of a young Native American woman on reservation land. She was randomly discovered by a federal fish and wildlife officer who was out hunting mountain lions who were preying upon local livestock for sport. While this movie surrounds the mystery and circumstances of this woman’s death, it quickly becomes an investigation into a potential conspiracy as the FBI gets involved. It’s an emotionally deep movie that is surprisingly good; there is a deeper message regarding the disappearances and deaths of Native American women on reservations that is too often ignored by the media. 8/10
Long Review
It’s going to be hard for me not to pontificate when it comes to this review. Every time a movie like this comes along, I’m torn between my skepticism and my passionate opinions about a number of issues. I’m very biased when it comes to crimes perpetuated against women and children; and I’m personally disgusted by the lack of national concern given to the widespread abuse and murder of African American women and children. The lack of concern about the INSANE number of kidnappings/disappearances of women and children in these communities is appalling to me. We cared more about Gabby Petito than the estimated 75,000 missing Black women and girls in the USA…
Wind River was recommended to me by some friends on the internet who claimed it was a powerful movie that depicted how Native American women are also often ignored by the media when it comes to disappearances and murders. As I said before, I find violence against women and children particularly heinous, so the premise of this movie intrigued me. Admittedly, I am ignorant to what crimes and problems occur on Native American reservations. Let me cover the basics of the movie before I start preaching.
Jeremy Renner must be the “go-to” actor for a sniper, solider, or strong silent type character these days. This dude is always playing a solider or a sniper or something. Jeremy doesn’t show a lot of range, except for his portrayal of Gary Webb in Kill the Messenger. Don’t get me wrong, I like him as an actor, but I’m not seeing the range of say, Daniel-Day Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, or Tom Hanks. He more or less fits the role of Cory Lambert, an officer (and hunter) for the bureau of land management.
This story centers around Lambert, who finds a dead, frozen young woman while completing a task to hunt down some mountain lions who had been dining on cattle. Turns out the woman had experienced some sort of trauma and froze to death trying to escape something. Lambert knew the girl and her family, so this death hit him close to his own personal tragedy. He wants to solve this mystery as he suspects foul play, and wants to help an out of place FBI agent, Jane Banner (played by Elizabeth Olsen) assigned to the case. Jane welcomes his help and recognizes she is an untrusted outsider in this Native American community.
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Lambert is closely tied to this case as it reminds him of the loss of his own daughter. His personal tragedy, and his close ties to the Native American community despite not being indigenous himself, makes solving this case paramount. It’s as if he is reliving the loss of his daughter.
The dead woman in question, Natalie (Kelsey Asbille), was the girlfriend of a oil pipeline security worker named Matt (played by Jon Bernthal). On a fateful evening she decides to pay her Matt a visit only to witness his drunk colleagues returning to their bunkhouse. She was not supposed to be there and Matt’s coworkers deeply resented her presence as well as Matt. They beat up and torture Matt and attempt to rape Natalie, which she narrowly escapes. They end up killing and feeding him to mountain lions, attempting to cover up their crime. Natalie runs until her lungs freeze and she collapses in the middle of nowhere.
Eventually both Lambert and Jane uncover this horrible truth, but not without much bloodshed in a wild shootout scene. The movie ends with the case solved, but was justice truly done in the wake of such a tragedy? We are left feeling empty as we see Lambert revisit his grief over his own daughter and the parents of Natalie just beginning their grief.
From what I gathered from brief research, there is an interesting jurisdictional problem when it comes to these crimes, for if they happen on reservations, the matter is either handled within the reservation or it is regarded as a Federal matter and the FBI gets involved. Local law enforcement may be left in the dark and may not be able to conduct investigations despite their knowledge of the surrounding areas, thus creating a systemic barrier to solving these types of crimes (as Wind River clearly demonstrated).
Are Native American women disproportionately targeted for abuse, murder, and kidnappings? Apparently so, and it happens in alarming numbers.
Why aren’t we concerned about this, or are we too busy being distracted by the legacy media? I can’t see any reason why this is under reported, and it’s inexcusable that American citizens are treated like this; but then again, are we all on the same page when we categorize “Americans?” If you other a group of people, it’s easier to ignore and not care what happens to them.
The Good
Overall, the acting was good and the script was well-written. It had the feel of a classic “whodunnit” with a rustic, “man versus nature” twist.
If you watch Yellowstone, you will recognize several familiar faces. The casting for this movie was well done, even if you are one of those people who feel Jeremy Renner can’t act. I think this gives Renner a glimpse into his range concerning his handling of grief, depression, and the sense of desperation.
The Bad
The movie does have a political agenda and some people will be turned off by it. The depiction of both Native Americans, police, security contractors, and federal agents will be off-putting and stereotypical to some. Some may even suggest this movie is propaganda, but the fact is this movie depicts missing women that are marginalized.
The Ugly
Honestly, it’s hard to imagine Jon Bernthal as anything other than a solider, or as The Punisher. Seeing him get beat up by his colleagues was hard to imagine, and I think the role he played was wasted on him.