Wind River (2018) Review

With a limited theatrical release, Taylor Sheridan's 2017 winter-bound crime-thriller was somewhat snowed under at the box-office but, in 2018, under a home-streaming re-release, the ice is starting to thaw on this indie gem.

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There is something symphonic about crime dramas in cold settings. Just ask the Scandinavians; Nordic Noirs (The Bridge, Bordertown, Deadwind) have become a dominant force in home-streaming, surpassing all other genres for viewing figures. Wind River (2017) is one film that understands the relationship between temperature and slaughter. Here, environment is both a facilitator of the crime and a witness to the persecution.

The story follows a U.S. 'Fish and Wildlife' service agent, Cory (played by Jeremy Renner, as he discovers the body of 18-year-old Natalie Hunter. She is frozen to death, bare-foot some 6 miles out from civilisation. Cory requests aid from the FBI and is sent Jane Banner (played by Elizabeth Olson), an underwhelming and especially young new agent from Fort Lauderdale. Together, they embark on a hunt for justice that will put them at the mercy of the cold and the cold-hearted.

This should appear as familiar territory for a murder-mystery but Sheridan's treatment is fresh and, oftentimes, poetic. One establishing shot is a dizzying and vast vision of the snow hills, another is a deeply intimate, warm-hued close-up of family photos. He constantly draws our emotional gaze to the preciousness of life in such a harsh environment and, in rural Wyoming, life is precious. This is a land of independence, where you protect what is yours or risk to lose it. The lingering sense of vulnerability is what makes the film tick. You might be entranced by the beauty of the landscape but you will also fear what could emerge from it.

For most viewers, it is a completely alien place and lifestyle. Native Indian reservations are often located in the most inhospitable and lifeless regions of the U.S., the Wind River reservation is the seventh-largest and, according to statistics, rife with alcoholism, suicide and obesity. It is not just a convenient filming location for a crime-thriller, it is a real and tangible place. You can feel it; every character is unnervingly familiar, every set is palpable. There is a strong insinuation that, although fictional, this story is also typical. Sheridan attacks with a startling combination of fabrication and absolute-realism and draws the line with such deftness that you'll wonder which is which.

We employ detectives to make sense of the nonsensical and to bring reason to unreasonable places. So far from conventional hospitalities, the characters in Wind River (2017) have their work cut out for them but show us that, with close attention to detail and relentless dedication to the truth, much can be accomplished, even in the harshest conditions.

★★★★☆