Hey 3.5 readers.
So first, let me say up front I realize why “Wind River” was snubbed this Oscar season. That is to say I think I know. I am a lowly peon blogger for a website with 3.5 readers and the Academy does not share any insider info with me….but my best guess is because this was a Harvey Weinstein film. To nominate the film would be to reward Hollywood’s most notorious pervert.
I get that but I’m not sure it’s fair to punish the director, the actors, anyone else involved who could have been nominated. I mean, the film was made before news of Harvey’s pervy ways become public knowledge.
So, there you go. Maybe grandfather in anyone involved in Harvey’s last movies and then I assume Harvey isn’t making movies anymore. Hell, if he is and you’re an actor, then at least you know up front you’re getting involved in a movie made by a perv so maybe you want to take your acting skills elsewhere. Now you’re on notice of Harvey’s alleged perversions.
Oh, my lawyer says I have to note Harvey’s perversions are only alleged. Don’t assume he was a perv just on my ramblings.
The film tells a good story about Wyoming, a state you likely don’t think about unless you live there – the wide spaces where you are miles away from civilization, how Native American women are often kidnapped and killed and the crimes are never solved because the wilderness is so vast and Native American reservation lands aren’t given much funds to hire a bigger police presence.
Graham Greene who plays the long suffering tribal police chief who passes much needed survival knowledge to the newcomer/green around the gills FBI agent played by Elizabeth Olsen. Greene’s character is tough, his advice is wise, almost to the point that those who don’t follow it do so at their peril.
Meanwhile, Gil Birmingham plays Martin, the grieving father of the film’s victim. SPOILER ALERT – there’s a scene at the end where Martin paints his face blue in sort of a native ritual to somehow aid his grieving process but the look of pain on his face is so pure that it’s clear that the fear there is no higher power looking out for us and we are all alone to process our sadness and no one is looking down on us to help us get better is clear. The presence of Jeremy Renner’s character, assumedly a Christian and himself another grieving father, shows that this pain crosses many cultures and perhaps we all have more in common with one another than we think.
At any rate, Greene and Birmingham are Hollywood’s go to actors for Native American roles. You probably don’t know their names but you’ve seen them in something. I never knew their names until I looked them up to write this.
I just think there was a rare opportunity for Greene or Birmingham to receive a rare (has it ever happened before?) nomination for a Native American actor and if that opportunity was lost due to Harvey’s pervyness then that is a shame.
Oh well. See the movie anyway.
Bookshelf Battle 