Namwene Mukabwa is a Collider author focusing on classic, Western, historical, and contemporary films and television series.
How America was violently conquered is a thorny subject that few films have been willing to honestly explore. Susanna White's 2021 biographical Western Woman Walks Ahead attempts to do just that, and it succeeds. Leading its cast, the Academy Award-winning Jessica Chastain takes on another strong-willed woman role and explores an unconventional love that promises to bridge the gap between two sides of the American divide on the frontier.
Chastain wears Catherine Weldon's heart, a New York-based widowed painter who takes a train to the Dakotas with the mission to capture the larger-than-life Lakota chief Sitting Bull on canvas in the late 19th century. During her stay with the towering leader in the months leading to his infamous horrible death, Catherine experiences the injustice faced by the Lakota people as frontier settlers mete out violence against the community and herself to suppress them.
‘Woman Walks Ahead’ Offers a Nuanced Portrayal of the Conflict Between Settlers and Native Americans The film isn’t without its flaws, having drawn criticism for its historical inaccuracies, particularly in its portrayal of Sitting Bull’s death, and for slipping into the all-too-common white savior trope. The latter is a misstep that even well-intentioned films like Taylor Sheridan’s poignant Wind River haven't managed to avoid.
Through the simmering connection between Catherine and Sitting Bull, we get to understand Sitting Bull as a charismatic leader who had to make difficult choices for the sake of his people during a time of adversity. The film is restrained in its depiction of such a heavy message, avoiding grotesque violence while painting the dire picture through an emotional, intimate story with deep conversations that are probing and sometimes painfully candid.
'Woman Walks Ahead' Is a Visual and Emotional Landscape Close Susanna White's sweeping vistas are a character in their own right. Whether it is capturing the plains, the hills and mountains on the horizon, the spiritual-like cultural festivities of the Lakota people, or Catherine and Sitting Bull's intimate connection, each image grounds the film in both its artistic beauty and brutal reality.
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