Review of Wind River (2017) by Ben T — 18 Feb 2018

I'm relieved I was urged to see Wind River because it flew so low under the radar and I honestly, may have missed it otherwise. The fact that it failed to register with general audiences and Academy voters is a bit beyond me, because I certainly felt it was worthy of at least solid consideration across the board, if not a couple nominations.

Yes, the "based on true events" ploy is misleading, but still well-intentioned as this is all to bring to light the fact that there exists no statistical data on the number of Native American Women who go missing (the only demographic with such a distinction).

But otherwise, this movie would seem like Oscar fodder most years. Jeremy Renner is excellent, even if unchallenged, in his role. Elizabeth Olsen is something of a revelation in this movie as well (an Olsen who can act?).

The plot is expertly played out, over stunning scenery, with an incredible script as its backbone. I could see, though, that while Wind River takes on an underrepresented subject matter, the film itself feels like Taylor Sheridan (who also directed the fantastic Hell or High Water) may have been trying to feed it more emotional gravity than necessary at times or take it into Coen Brothers territory (Fargo meets No Country for Old Men?).

If you aim high, you can fall far. And maybe that's what happened here. Regardless, Wind River is another film robbed of its due this year and I hope it gains the audience it deserves.