Review of Wind River (2017) by Scrawnypunk — 19 Sep 2017

Fantastic movie. Written and directed by the guy who wrote Hell or High Water, which is also a fantastic movie (as well as Sicario, which I am not as high on). Lots of layers, a fresh narrative structure, and loads of great acting. At the very least, it would be nice to see Gil Birmingham get an Oscar nod for supporting actor.

This is a movie that trusts the intelligence of the viewer, which means we can take a few perfectly-chosen words and imply paragraphs of emotion and exposition. For example, on the destruction of Native American culture:

-Jeremy Renner: “What’s with the paint?”.

-Gil Birmingham: “This is my death face”.

-JR: “And how do you know what that is?”.

-GB: “I don’t. I just made it up. It’s not like there’s anyone around to teach me.”.

That’s it. No explanation, no further dialog, no righteous lectures. And with that, we know that a father can’t properly mourn his daughter because even that piece of culture been taken from him, along with everything else.

Jeremy Renner also excels in a role which seemed made for his toughness and deliberate pacing. He might even have reached Gus McCrae-level frontier righteousness, which isn’t an easy thing to do.

Finally, the entire movie oozes respect for its subject and makes a compelling point without stooping to, as Mr. Birmingham has said in interviews, "poverty porn.".

An all-around good film, and definitely in my top 5 for this year.