Rolling Stone's critics say
you'll be amazed that Taylor Sheridan, who debuted in "Sicario", was able to turn the death of a hunter, an agent and an American girl into poignant social commentary .
This can also be seen as a common feature of the three works: revealing social problems through a crime.
"Border Slayer" takes place in the gray area at the border between the United States and Mexico, where the law is useless, and "Through Fire and Water" tells the story of two brothers in Texas who rob a bank to save their farm. "Wind River Valley" focuses on the sparsely populated Indian reservations.
The story of "Hunting Wind River Valley" is particularly cold, not only physically, but also psychologically.
The story takes place on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Corey the hunter specializes in hunting wild animals. He received a mission: to hunt lions. While tracking down the lion, he found the body of a girl. In the snow, the temperature is extremely low, the nearest house is 3.5 miles (about 5,600 meters), and the girl does not even wear shoes in this place where there is no store in front of the village or in the back.
Traces of sexual assault were found on the body. I don't know where she escaped from or how far she ran.
Upon seeing the body, the hunter immediately called the police. Because of the special geographical location (Indian reservation), the FBI must be present to continue tracking.
The trail was about to be covered up by Blizzard, but the FBI was still missing.
This is the norm here: no help. It could even be said to be a forgotten location.
The ambulance took an hour to arrive.
This norm is not very reasonable, but whether it is reasonable or not, it has become rigid.
For example, in this murder case, the FBI only sent one agent, and she still flew all the way from Vegas, even just a novice.
Residents have become accustomed to this kind of normalcy, just like living in Bao City for a long time, without smelling it. Such an unreasonable normality requires an outsider, a bystander, to see the cruelty and indifference inside.
In this movie, FBI agent Jane Banner is the bystander.
The FBI agent Kate in "Border Slayer" and the policeman Marcus in "Throwing Through Fire and Water" are also the same characters and play the same role. Scenes that would surprise onlookers (including viewers), and even those that seem incredibly unbelievable and magical, to those living on the frontier, are just routine.
For example, in the cause of death of girls. Hunter Corey saw traces of the girl's actions from the snow, and saw the cause of the girl's death from the traces.
The blood freezes from running and the cold, and the lungs burst, causing death. Judging from the autopsy results, the cause of death is similar to what Kobe inferred, that is, being cold to death.
Because the ultimate cause of death was cold, although there is a lot of evidence to prove that it was murder, the autopsy results can only write that he died of cold, not murder.
Not murder means the case can't be called out to the FBI, but to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It means that there are no resources and no backup.
Jane is in stark contrast to the people here. She couldn't believe the situation and tried to argue.
The sheriff just nodded when he heard that the FBI couldn't be called out, because he was used to the situation.
Jane left angrily, she cared and full of enthusiasm, which was exactly the emotion the residents here lacked or didn't want to show.
And the reason for such indifference cannot be innate. Just got used to it.
In the face of repeated inaction, all that is left is disappointment, powerlessness, and deep-rooted cold.
The Indian reservation is so vast and sparsely populated that it is snow as far as the eye can see. In the movie, there are many long-range shots that look down, making people seem very insignificant and have no control in the face of nature.
In the white expanse, the helplessness of people is also multiplied.
People in the area are not helped, and the living environment is extremely cruel. The people who live here are trying to live every moment.
No luck at this point. You either live or give up and die.
Tyler Sheridan, who also serves as director and screenwriter, is very good at shaping the environment, and the three films create three worldviews. The trilogy also has one thing in common, and that is the demand for justice.
Unfair things are happening. In "Through Water and Fire", the two brothers robbed the bank to repay the debt in order to prevent their farm from being confiscated by the bank. From the beginning they were on the road to extrajudicial justice.
Because in what they thought was righteousness, innocent people died. Although "justice" was obtained, the price was too great. The scene at the end of the film is also very good, it is the finishing touch. The sheriff comes to visit his brother, who is at large. Ask the question that will haunt both of them for life.
The same goes for Sicario, where the tragic death of an innocent taxi driver is even a side story.
In Corey's final punishment for the murderer, it was also a lynching, but it made the audience involuntarily stand on the side of the protagonist, and no innocent people died because of Corey's actions, which made such revenge seem more enjoyable. It also formed the biggest difference between this movie and the other two. Abandoned the thinking and torture of this kind of private execution, and stood directly in favor of the point of view. Such an approach has made the film a lot dry, without the entanglement and powerlessness of watching it, and can only use Indian culture to act as the depth of the film's lack.
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