I decided not to see The Wind, also known as The Wind: Demons of the Prairie, in theaters because just having a woman director and a promise of horror are not enough draws for me. The description of the film was deliberately cagey and just summarized the film as a woman living on the Plains to which I responded, “AND…….!” Thank God that I did not fall for the okey doke because I would have been big mad.
The Wind was well received as a mashup of supernatural meets the Western. Um, may I respectfully ask, “Excuse me?” It is set in the West, but I would not go so far as to suggest that it is a Western. Obviously I am expressing my opinion, but I despise when reviewers get a movie with a woman as a protagonist, they will do their best to slide it into a genre that if there was a male protagonist, would maybe be called a drama or drama horror, but hardly a Western. Reviewers also pull this trick when it is really an artsy fartsy film with a horror veneer, and they want to lure more viewers to the theater.
For me, Westerns are characterized by their violent content more than their location. I decided to look up horror Westerns because I never consciously considered it as a genre before The Wind, but apparently it includes such classics as John Carpenter’s Vampires, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk till Dawn and Timur Bekmambetov’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. My response to those examples is a hearty, “Hell yeah.” Those films may not have as weighty underlying, emotionally textured themes as this film, but they are horror films, and while they are not traditional Westerns, I can see it. For real horror lovers, please do not label your film a horror movie unless you want me to hate it. Call Ari Aster and try again. The most that I am willing to concede is that it is psychological horror, and if it was marketed as such, I may have judged it more kindly.
Also for a viewer to enjoy films such as The Wind and The Babadook, another film that everyone raved about, but I felt was anticlimactic, that viewer must have an instinctual adherence to certain gender and racial norms regarding behavior, which I clearly do not have, and no one else who witnessed first-hand the fifty two percent showing what they are capable of. I started the movie asking these men, “Why do you think that she knows what she is doing? Just because she is a woman?” I never trusted the subtitular promise of the supernatural, and once again, I am going to have to ask that everyone watch Ari Aster’s Hereditary to really experience a film that plausibly offers two interpretations of what was happening. The minute that the film turned into the anti-The Color Purple, I knew what was up. Maybe my interpretation of the film is incorrect and one-sided, but I do not think so.
The Wind actually reminds me of The Homesman, which was an initially promising Western, but ultimately felt like a let down. This film could easily be a segment or backstory for one of the women that Tommy Lee Jones’ character escorts back to civilization. The Wind does have the advantage of unconditionally sticking by its protagonist instead of betraying her as The Homesman did. I enjoy filmmakers exploring the multiple (unreasonable) burdens placed on women without much in exchange when a woman commits to a man who takes her away from civilization. I did appreciate that the men in this film were not villains, but just as dumb as any man is today who thinks that it is a good idea to start a healthy relationship with a woman then move her to a place where she is essentially alone and only dependent on him for her social outlet. She is not the only one who is going to be miserable, my man. Also, maybe do not offer your wife a trunk filled with gothic horror novels if she sees things, and you do not believe her. Also you did not mean it, but your advice got everyone in this predicament. Women can’t be everything to you and vice versa without the bank running dry. I was also thrilled to finally have an enthusiastic, marital frontier sex scene. For a woman to make such a ridiculous commitment to one person, there has to be a reason that she sticks around. Usually I am the person asking if the movie had to have a sexual content, but in this film, I think that it is an essential component to the narrative. Without it, the rest of the story does not make sense. People are just animals who pretend that they are not a part of nature.
The Wind got me to stick around because the narrative is not linear. It is kind of like Memento, though not in structure. If it was linear, the story would be straightforward and not as absorbing as when the viewer has to assemble all the pieces herself. Part of the pleasure of the film is figuring out who the characters are, their relationship to each other, how all the scenic details fit, what is real and what is not. Sure my initial impression was completely accurate, but I did feel compelled to watch the entire film to verify.
One problem that I had with The Wind, which was not the film’s fault, is I kept wondering whom the actors resembled because I glanced at their filmography, and I do not think that I have seen any of them before this film. I still cannot put my finger on whom Ashley Zukerman looks like—maybe a young Gary Cole from American Gothic, but he would have been too sinister for the character and taken the film in an entirely different direction. I do not intend to disrespect Julia Goldani Telles, but I felt as if the role needed to go in a Christina Ricci sly direction or a more innocent direction like Alexis Bledel. I was not surprised by her character development at all the minute that I saw her. Dylan McTee was too forgettable, but I think that he was underwritten, and the actor does not bear all the responsibility. Caitlin Gerard really did carry the film and had me invested in the protagonist more than I wanted to be. I am glad that the goats from The Witch got a job, but it was just a bit part. The Reverend felt like more gilding on the lily. I wanted to cast someone like Lance Henriksen or Kaith Szarabajka.
I watch too many movies so maybe The Wind is just obvious to me, and most people will be shocked and surprised. I like my horror to grip me on some level, and while the beginning was striking like the first few minutes of Midsommar, it also had the effect of immediately putting me on my guard in assessing everyone’s character. It was mildly entertaining and atmospheric, but ultimately disappointing.