6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The story follows Catherine Weldon, who moved from Brooklyn to the Standing Rock Reservation in Dakota Territory to help Sioux chieftain Sitting Bull keep the land for his people. Weldon wrote letters to the federal government on behalf of Sitting Bull and lived on the land for several years with her son.
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Sam Rockwell, Ciarán Hinds, Michael Nouri, David MidthunderDrama | Insignificant |
Biography | Insignificant |
History | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In a way, it’s almost kind of shocking that Woman Walks Ahead didn’t “connect” with audiences during its brief theatrical run, since the film would seem to offer a veritable horn of plenty for lovers of a certain kind of historically based western. The casting offers “it” actress Jessica Chastain as real life painter and activist (and some might argue proto-feminist) Caroline Weldon, a fascinating figure in her own right whom director Susanna White in a supplement included on this Blu- ray release probably rightfully laments has been consigned to being a “mere footnote” in history books in general, and in the tortured history of the Lakota in particular. Playing Lakota leader Sitting Bull is Plains Cree actor Michael Greyeyes, in a performance that really anchors this film with a certain amount of stoic dignity. And the “third wheel” (in a manner of speaking) character, Colonel Silas Grove, is enacted ably by Sam Rockwell, as he attempts to complete a treaty while also attempting to get the increasingly “resistance” minded Weldon to go back from whence she came. The film is also filled with a number of really interesting supporting performances, and the whole tale of Weldon journeying west, ostensibly to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull, but ultimately for reasons more political and even romantic, would seem to be near perfect fodder for an “epic western”. And to a large degree, Woman Walks Ahead succeeds, offering jaw dropping vistas of the American West, a landscape that intentionally dwarfs the human characters moving through it, while also devoting considerable time to a tale of two disparate people who each feel disenfranchised in their own way. But Woman Walks Ahead never really hits the bullseye, to use a metaphor culled from the sort of Wild West Show that Sitting Bull himself was forced to participate in at one point in his troubled life.
Woman Walks Ahead is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This is often a quite striking looking feature, one that offers some really sumptuous looking vistas and a couple of serendipitous shots (according to White in the supplementary interview) where the Great Spirit or whoever's in charge of such things provided some spectacular background weather. IMDb doesn't list much technical data, but Panavision's site states that cinematographer Mike Eley utilized Arri Alexa XTs to capture the imagery. Aside from some passing murk in dimly lit interiors (where some yellow splotchiness can sometimes accrue), this is a really nicely sharp and well detailed looking presentation, though the palette seems a trifle cool looking at times. Fine detail is often exceptional, especially in more brightly lit moments. This is another recent Lionsgate release where I was a bit surprised to notice just the barest hint of banding in some quick lighting changes, typically outdoor scenes where much of the frame is given over to the sky. There are also a couple of sequences where the imagery has been intentionally tweaked so that things appear a bit Impressionistic (this includes the Ghost Dance sequence seen in screencapture 14).
Aside from a couple of tribal ceremonies and one late quasi-showdown, Woman Walks Ahead's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track doesn't really offer much in the way of old style "cowboys vs. Indians" sonics, instead plying a more reserved route that still offers substantial surround activity in ambient environmental effects due to the many outdoor scenes. George Fenton's elegiac score is quite elegant at times and spreads through the side and rear channels winningly, and dialogue is always delivered clearly and cleanly. There are occasional forced subtitles for the scenes spoken in Native American dialects (see screenshot 13 for an example).
I was often quite captivated with Woman Walks Ahead, even as I often was kind of wondering why the film didn't really "reach out and touch" me more profoundly. In fact, some of the most devastating emotional content of the film for me was actually given courtesy of a brief coda documenting the horrors of Wounded Knee, accompanied by some archival photographs of the carnage. While Woman Walks Ahead is perhaps not as cathartic as some might have hoped, it's still incredibly scenic and has some very interesting elements to its story. I for one will be cheering if the accomplished work of Michael Greyeyes is remembered next year when the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominations are announced. With caveats noted, Woman Walks Ahead comes Recommended.
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