Wind River

One of the things I love about living in the American west is the beautiful landscape that draws visitors every year from around the world. In some ways, states like Utah, Montana, and Wyoming feel like the last piece of frontier left – a virtually untouched paradise of scenery and wildlife. The stark deserts and towering mountains cohabitate beautifully to create some of the most incredible views and geological formations anywhere on Earth. The natural architecture of Utah is one of the reasons so many films are made here, and once a year Utah boasts one of the most prestigious film festivals in the nation – the Sundance Film Festival. One of the best independent films of 2017, Wind River, was filmed right here in Utah and also happened to make its debut at Sundance.

Wind River is more than just a fascinating crime thriller – it’s a fresh, modern perspective on the traditional western and the feature film debut of up-and-coming writer/director Taylor Sheridan. Written as part of an American frontier trilogy that includes Sicario and Hell or High Water (also not to be missed), Sheridan is quickly establishing a canon of thought-provoking films, with timely, important messages. Through its use of visuals, storytelling, characters, setting and plot devices, Wind River sets itself as the benchmark for the modern, thinking man’s western. More than that, however, Wind River raises important questions about race identity and violence against Indigenous women.

Wind River opens on a stark, frozen wilderness where we see a young Native American girl running barefoot through the snow. At one point she falls to her hands and knees and coughs up blood. She screams in frustration, seems to catch her breath, and forces herself back up and running again. It isn’t until the next day, however, that we learn her fate, when her frozen body is discovered by U.S. Fish and Wildlife tracker Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner). The closest FBI agent is called in from Las Vegas to investigate - rookie Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) who quickly realizes she is dealing with a homicide. Jane retains the help of Cory as well as the local police chief Ben (Graham Greene) to help solve the mystery of exactly what happened to 18 year old Natalie (Kelsey Asbille).

To understand the kind of terrifying isolation that is evoked in the opening scene of Wind River, you must drive to the center of the least populated U.S. state, Wyoming, and stop. There, just north of the town of Lander sits the real-life Wind River Indian Reservation – a virtual wilderness of open ranges, steep mountains, dilapidated trailers, and roaming livestock. One of the earliest shots in the film of the reservation depicts an American flag flying the wrong direction on a flagpole; it’s our first hint that things aren’t quite right here in the land of the upside-down. Jane herself quickly realizes that she may be in over her head, when she discovers that there are only six police officers to help cover an area roughly the size of Rhode Island. When she states that they need to call for back-up, Ben sardonically tells her, “Jane, you’re in the land of no back-up” and he’s right (Sheridan). Out on the reservation the rules don’t apply, help is hard to come by, and people are easily lost: lost to depression, drugs, alcoholism, and violence – especially against women.

Early in the film, Wind River makes the claim that it is based on a true story. The “truth” as Sheridan recounts to NPR, is that while it’s not based on a single story, “It's based on thousands of actual stories just like it.” Stories where Native women are murdered or missing and their cases are never solved. Sheridan goes on to explain, “Wind River has been suffering a crime rate five to seven times the national average. Life expectancy is just 49 years of age - 49 years of age - and unemployment higher than 80 percent. And teenagers are twice as likely to kill themselves. And all of this 50 miles as the crow flies from Jackson Hole in Teton County, one of the richest counties in the nation” (Sheridan). It’s this sense of helplessness shown continuously throughout the film that gives viewers a sense of what life on the reservation feels like.

The film takes its time establishing the characters and setting as the story unfolds. There are moments of quiet emotion interspersed with shockingly violent acts (a brutal rape scene near the end of the film may have viewers turning their heads). The chemistry between Renner and Olsen is palpable – both are courageously trying to do their best in the face of a seemingly desolate, no-win situation: Olsen to prove herself, and Renner to absolve himself. In Wind River there are no easy answers, but sometimes justice can be found.

Olsen and Renner eventually track their predator to an oil drilling station located six miles from where they find Natalie’s body. It’s a terrifyingly intense scene, as their situation quickly escalates into an old fashioned shoot-out, reminiscent of Earp and Holliday at the O.K. Corral. Wind River will ultimately give viewers the answers they seek about Natalie’s fate, but in doing so, it raises more questions about the treatment of Indigenous people and the inherent problems associated with life on the reservation. Sheridan’s skill at weaving all of these themes together seamlessly into a smart murder mystery is what makes Wind River such an impactful first film. One of the best lines of dialogue comes towards the end of the film where the characters are discussing life in Wind River. Cory states, “Luck don’t live out here. Out here you either survive or you succumb,” (Sheridan).

Works Cited

Sheridan, Taylor. “Investigating a Murder in ‘Wind River.’” Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR, 5 Aug. 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/08/05/541774348/investigating-a-murder-in-wind-river. Accessed 21 Mar. 2019.

Wind River. Directed by Taylor Sheridan, Lionsgate, 2017.