«Wind River», directed by Taylor Sheridan, wrote the screenplay of «SicarioHell or high water», is a bone chilling thriller that follows a rookie Fni. Agent (Elizabeth Olson), who teams up with a game ranger hunter (Jeremy Renner) who has a history of living on the Arapaho reservation, and a bureau of Indian affairs cop (Graham Greene),to investigate the murder of an Arapaho woman on the wind river reservation in Wyoming. At a deep and icy level, wind river is about power. There is a lot going on here. Federal government non-recognition of missing and murdered native women, white masculinity that has grown full blown into a psychosis of violence and madness. Several psychological historical threads weave through this tapestry.

Missing or murdered Native American and Canadian women is a fact in Indian country.

I placed a call to the editor of my Cheyenne Arapaho tribal newspaper yesterday. I asked her how many native girls or women were missing on my reserve in the past two months. She replied four women had been murdered in this time frame. BIA and tribal police investigating. The number of cases regarding this issue on Canadian reserves, on Native American reserves and reservations are staggering. As the last scene of the film indicates, no existing statistics are available.

The portrayal of “man camps”. As an example, in the Bakan oil fields of South Dakota, near Pine Ridge, the poorest reservation in America, oil companies have established hundreds of trailer houses where oil field workers live often four or five men to a trailer. Native girls, women and boys are often lured or willingly allow themselves to be sex workers in these camps. Rampant human trafficking.

Inter generational trauma. Most Native Americans and indigenous persons worldwide Are suffering from this grief ridden mental incapacity. Intergenerational historical trauma. Indigenous peoples must learn how their great-grandparents own psychological pain and sorrow is still. Impacting the structure of our genes. We are more likely to “switch on” negative responses to stress and trauma as a result of institutional trauma such as Indian schools, alcoholism and sexual abuse.

Wind river explicates all of these issues. The negatives of this commercial Hollywood film blatantly hints that the Arapaho have lost their abilities, ceremonies, to heal themselves. Notwithstanding a brief drive by of preparations for a sweat lodge in the opening scenes.

Lastly, the film follows the genre ridden “white man savior” ethic. Taylor Sheridan has stated that he desired to be honest and straightforward. I feel he did what he could.