Review of Wind River (2017) by Connor S — 03 Dec 2017

Native Americans and their experience are sadly still invisible to most Americans. Taylor Sheridan, the writer behind Sicario and Hell or Highwater, seeks to tell their story, making Wind River one of the most important films this year.

Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, both from The Avengers, are reunited as a Fish and Wildlife Services and FBI agent, respectively. A grizzly crime may or may not have been committed, and since reservations are federal land, it's up to Olsen to find out. It's a little unsettling for both the main characters in a movie about native Americans to be white. One can't help but wonder why Gil Birmingham (House of Cards) couldn't have had Renner's role when he plays his own character in this movie with incredible range, going from hostility to despair in a matter of seconds. Still, as a white man living on the reservation, Renner makes a good mentor to Olsen. It would have been easy to write Olsen as a one-dimensional, clueless white girl, but she's genuinely well-meaning and grows quite a bit as a character.

Misgivings about the cast aside, Wind River treats its subject with a lot of respect, addressing nearly every issue native Americans face today, from poverty, to neglect from the government, to isolation, to substance abuse, to suicide, to racism, to intermarriage, to even sexual assault. It has a backhanded sense of humor; you laugh at the jokes because they're true, but then you feel guilty because they're true. It's all summed up by a shot of an upside-down American flag, both a sign of disrespect and a distress signal. Yet, when Renner calls Natalie, a native teen central to the plot, "a warrior," he's affirming the strength of all native Americans for them to endure all that they have and still be standing.