4.5 stars. Rated R, for strong violence, rape, profanity and disturbing images
By Derrick Bang
The narrative in writer/director
Taylor Sheridan’s superbly mounted Wind
River is driven by equal parts grief, loyalty and justice ... the latter
not necessarily to be confused with the rules of law.
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| Having back-tracked a fleeing young woman's progress through the harsh landscape of the snow-covered mountains near Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) and FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) make an unexpected discovery. |
In three short years,
actor-turned-filmmaker Sheridan has established an impressive reputation for
thoughtful, riveting dramas that place characters in situations — and
environments — where the American dream is little more than cruel irony.
His scripting debut, with 2015’s Sicario, becomes more relevant by the
day: its grim, uncompromising depiction of drug violence along the U.S./Mexican
border an unhappy reminder of the degree to which American demand is responsible
for Mexican supply. Last year’s Hell or High Water perceptively explored the callously unjust circumstances that
drive disillusioned men to criminal activity, when they’re on the wrong side of
the wealth/poverty divide in West Texas; Sheridan earned a well-deserved
Academy Award nod for that one.
He also has been fortunate to see
his projects embraced by strong casts delivering some of their finest work:
from Emily Blunt’s naïve and idealistic FBI agent in Sicario; to the cat-and-mouse chase between Chris Pine, Ben Foster,
Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham, in Hell
or High Water. Good or bad, noble or ignominious, the characters are always
fascinating: often bearing the burden of some degree of failure.
Sheridan also has an ear for both
dialogue — the way people actually talk to each other — and, even more
crucially, the way they behave with
each other.
And now, with his quietly
powerful Wind River, he has zeroed in
on what remains of America’s frontier, which — sadly — also is a damning
indictment of American history, and the utter failure to properly address past
sins.
The setting is the
snow-enshrouded, late winter/early spring environment of the Wind River Indian
Reservation in Wyoming, where U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent Cory Lambert
(Jeremy Renner) routinely employs his tracking skills to eliminate predators —
wolves, mountain lions — caught killing livestock. He’s an honorable man, liked
and respected by ranchers and just-plain-folks within and bordering the
reservation.
