Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River Still Makes 1 Mistake Against His Best Intentions Despite Casting a Female Lead With Elizabeth Olsen

Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River sits at an exclusive roundtable of perfectly written and directed movies that capture stories with artistic gusto and an important socio-cultural message. The film shook Hollywood awake from its dreary lull of banality and inspired a sense of urgent and original storytelling.

Not every day does an industry do-gooder come along with enough ambition at their fingertips to change the structure of film and television forever. But 2017 marked one such year for a former Sons of Anarchy actor who got kicked off the show for dreaming too big for his place in the call sheet and two Marvel superheroes desperate for recognition outside films with spandex costumes.

Born from the creative output that Sheridan then fueled into screenwriting, Wind River stands out as a mile-marker in the industry’s generic vision board. But while Wind River shines bright in Sheridan’s invaluable cache of treasures, it is as flawed as an instrument missing a string. Although the song plays beautifully from beginning to end, it still feels somewhat out of tune.

Wind River Feels Complete But Misses an Essential Mark

The story of Wind River was Taylor Sheridan at his creative best – a gut-wrenching tale revolving around the Indigenous people of America, who not only suffered a great loss but were ultimately vindicated in their tragedy. But perhaps, this was also where Taylor Sheridan went wrong with Wind River.

The story should not have been a task undertaken by a white man from Texas but one narrated by the Indigenous community centered on the Indigenous people and viewed through the lens of Indigenous culture. Rather, what stands out – despite the best efforts of the director – is a misbegotten tale that still perpetuates the White savior narrative narrated by a Southern director centered on the personal saga of grief and redemption of a white American and viewed through the lens of cultural appropriation.

Taylor Sheridan’s Ambition Overshadows the Real Victims

Taylor Sheridan’s superhuman ability to speak to the volume of loss and tragedy permeates every fabric of Wind River. The former actor’s directorial debut was a masterpiece in its own right for reasons beyond the obvious. Yes, the film broaches sensitive topics that need to be urgently addressed and shows aspects of modern society and its politics that need to be reformed. The film also breaks down stereotypical representations of the Indigenous people and gives them a voice and a place in the story that’s completely their own.

Despite those achievements, Wind River remains a story largely told through the eyes of Jeremy Renner‘s Cory Lambert who makes the case a personal odyssey toward redemption to escape the demons of his past, and Elizabeth Olsen‘s Jane Banner who is resolved to bring justice to the murdered girl and her Indigenous community. Sheridan’s master storytelling fails in this regard since, in the end, all we feel for Gil Birmingham’s character is a sense of closure and sympathy while Renner and Olsen’s characters get rewarded with the silent badge of heroism and honor.

Wind River is available for streaming on Netflix.