a lot will happen in a bleak setting

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2018)

Taylor Sheridan's "Wind River" is essentially two stories in one. The main plot is the murder investigated by Jeremy Renner's US Fish & Wildlife Service agent and Elizabeth Olsen's FBI agent. Since the murder has taken place on an Indian reservation - the Wind River Reservation referenced in the movie's title - the issue arises of whose responsibility it is to investigate. Renner and Olsen press forward with the investigation, and there's a lot to discover. The other plot is a focus on the status of people living on the reservation. The Indians are a minority in their own land, and are now relegated to dismal, isolated pieces of land with living conditions often comparable to the third world (not to mention high levels of alcoholism). Indeed, one of the movies addressed by the movie is the murders and disappearances of women on the reservations.
I guess that my one complaint about the movie is Olsen's character. We get to learn about Renner's character's background, but not about hers. I would've liked to hear more about why she chose the field that she did. Other than that, I found it to be a fine movie. I recommend it, and I'm eager to see Sheridan's next movie.