Wind River’s Study on Grief is Astounding
There’s no denying that Taylor Sheridan is slowly making a name for himself. After two terrific screenplays with Sicario and Hell or High Water, Sheridan takes the directing baton with Wind River (apparently it’s his directorial debut, even though he directed Vile in 2011). The film tells the story of a hunter for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Jeremy Renner) who finds the dead body of Natalie Hanson (Kelsey Chow) while hunting for mountain lions. When they find outthat she was raped, Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) from the FBI comes in to investigate with the aid of Wind River’s Tribal Police Chief (Graham Greene).
There are many sequences in Wind River that will retain your attention after the film ends. Particularly the sequences in which Cory (Renner) talks to Martin Hanson (Gil Birmingham) on grief. Cory lost her daughter 3 years ago, the same way Natalie died, frozen. He tells Martin that he will never be able to move on, only getting used to the pain. The scene is profoundly astounding, as the performances feel all to real. Jeremy Renner gives one of the best performances of his career, an Awards-worthy performance that got completely snubbed when the time came. But what makes the scene is the terrific script from Taylor Sheridan and the ability he has to direct actors and make the scene extremely believable. When Martin breaks down in Cory’s arms, you feel the pain he feels. And the conversation that follows afterwards is heartbreakingly sobbering. Cory tells a story about the time he went to a grief seminar and quotes his counselor: “Bad news is you’re never gonna be the same. You’re never gonna be whole, not ever again. You lost your daughter. Nothing’s ever going to replace that. Now the good news is, as soon as you accept that, and you let yourself suffer, you allow yourself to visit her in your mind, and you’ll remember all the love she gave, all the joy she knew.”
That study on grief, about the fact that no one can really move on after losing someone, but remembering the memories, while at the same time, being in uncontrollable pain, reasonates with me. I don’t think I will be the same after losing my grandfather, but whenever I go to my grandmother’s, an empty void is missing. It [still] causes tremendous pain, but I can always remember the memories I had of him when he was alive. I remember all the love he gave and joy he knew. I visit him in my mind sometimes, and it alleviates the suffering, just a bit. The two scenes with Renner & Birmingham are the film’s most emotionally profound. Sheridan’s study on grief is astounding, because it’s real. You can’t really accept the fact that the person you loved the most is no longer with you, but you have to live with the pain for the rest of your life. The final sequence when Martin wears his “death face” paint while contemplating suicide is probably the best final sequence of any movie that came out in 2017.
Elizabeth Olsen is also excellent. I never knew she had such dramatic range, especially when she asks Cory how his daughter died. The scene is as heartbreaking as Cory’s conversations on grieving and trying to move on with Martin. The acting is all-around phenomenal, with some great surprises (an extended cameo from Jon Bernthal during the film’s pivotal twist sequence is a highlight) and surprisingly funny side-characters, especially Graham Greene’s terrific roasting of the FBI. However, the comedy doesn’t overshadow the terrific drama of the movie, and the best sequence of the movie. The most dramatic and heart-breaking sequence of the film comes with the form of a match-cut, when you learn exactly what happened to Natalie Hanson. Jon Bernthal plays Natalie’s boyfriend, Matt, and we learn that he was beaten to death by his co-workers after beating a drunken Pete (James Jordan) while making flitrtatious remarks to Natalie. The scene plays out perfectly. The tension is there, when you see Bernthal as the boyfriend. But thinks quickly take a different turn as we go back to Present Day and a shootout breaks between the Tribal Police/FBI and the rig workers. It’s one of the best built-up action sequences of 2017, and the best climax of that year. The action sequences (2) are exciting, kinetic and incredibly cathartic. The reaction I had when the guns started to blaze in a western-esque “to the death” shootout were only three words: Ho Lee Shit. It’s what you’re going to say or more (WHOA OHMYGOD HO LEE SHIT). It’s brilliant filmmaking from a brilliant writer/director who knows exactly where he wants to take its audience; on an tense spiritual and cathartic journey through characters who have to cope with their children’s death. Its study on grief is stark and astounding, but its climax will knock your socks off.
A film to see right now.
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