A very compelling thriller that discusses the theme of survival and oppression

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2017)

Wind river was a very compelling murder mystery that had a slow burn build up to a very brutal reveal. Over the years Jeremey Renner has proved to be a very capable action hero but in Wind River he shows a more dramatic side to him and I think it was great. Elizabeth Olsen has steadily been climbing to be one of my favourite actresses too and I very much look forward to her future works.
Wind River tells the story of the missing demographic, Native American women. It told audiences of the horrors an unjust that has gone to them and the way that the government seems to swipe away this important statistic. This is a very important message that Wind River presents but it does so in a fabulous way.
This is a brilliant story of the cold harsh snow and the struggle for survival. Jeremy Renner as Cory Lambert puts it best in this film, he talks about how luck doesn't live out here and it takes heart, strength and the will to survive to survive out in these harsh environments. The film paints a picture of isolation and having to help from various means that was done so very well to present this idea.
At the same time while we don't necessarily sympathize with the perpetrators it is presented in a way that is very reasonable. The harsh and bitter environment turns people insane sometimes and drives them to do things that they wouldn't do. In fact Wind River does this other subtle thing where lots of the characters, you can tell have a sense of angst and a sense of pushing down something. This sense of internal conflict where they constrain and oppress their emotions can really be seen. I believe there is a message here, perhaps that 'we should get over these sad moments in life not by pushing the emotions out but by letting them out'. Something that Lambert does in fact talk about in this film. It seems that it is this sense of oppression looming over everyone that drives the murderer to do the things that he has done in this film.
I really enjoyed Wind River but if there is one issue I had it is with the reveal of the murder, the way in which they did it just seems rather odd to me and I don't like the way that the truth is understood by audiences but not by the characters in this film. There is no sense of unravelling the mystery through subtle clues but a literal projection on the screen. In my opinion it would've been a lot better to tell the story from Olsen, Jane Banner's eyes. To me this really takes away from the brilliant build Wind River had up till this point.