LAND

US, 2021, 90 minutes, Colour.

Robin Wright, Demian Bechir, Kim Dickens, Sarah Dawn Pledge, Warren Christie, Finlay Wijtok Hissong.

Directed by Robin Wright.

It is not good for anybody to be alone, the words from the book of Genesis. This is one of the main messages of this portrait of a middle-aged woman, her retiring from the world, coping in the mountain wildernesses of Wyoming. While the title does emphasise the land, it might have been more appropriate to call the film Solitude. While there is wonderful scenery, the story is nevertheless introspective.

It can be noted that there is beautiful scenery photography – some drone shots over mountains and valleys. However, the film uses the strange device of minimal drone shots compared with a considerable number of photos of the scenery, like stills, like photos for a coffee table travel book, interpolated throughout the action.

The film is something of a labour of love for actress Robin Wright, striking performances and screening presence over the decades, now making her directorial debut. And, she takes on the central role of Edee, a middle-aged woman, seen initially at a counselling session, urged to express her feelings, but lost in her interior anxieties, feeling that she should separate herself from everyone and so going into the Wyoming mountains.

As might be gauged from these comments, this is not a film for audiences who demand action. Initially, out in the mountains, in the primitive hut with its outhouse, the narrative is very quiet, rather introverted, even somewhat claustrophobic.

Robin Wright’s Edee experiences a number of flashbacks, puzzling the audience, someone who seems to be her sister, possibly a husband and child, but no explanations. -Until later.

The winters are particularly severe, the cold, Edee unwell, probably ready to die.

The drama of the film changes halfway through, the sick Edee discovered by a hunter, Miguel, a sympathetic performance from Demian Bechir, not exactly changing Edee’s decisions for solitude but reminding her, as well as us, that we do depend on others. At one point she asks why Miguel has helped her and he replies that she was in his path and therefore he would help. He himself has his own background story which has quite some elements of pathos at the end.

This is the kind of film that puzzles, the central character who can alienate the audience at times, but a film which which grows on its audience, eliciting feelings of compassion.

And, we realise again at the end, it is not good for anybody to be alone, that we are dependent on one another, that we need to surrender to the goodness and kindness of strangers, otherwise we live in solitude, an isolation that can lead to death.

1. The title? The focus on the land? The exteriors? But the film as one of introspection, the interior landscapes, solitary and solitude?
2. The Wyoming scenery, isolation, the hut and the outhouse, the mountains and valleys, the seasons and snow, the animals, the bear, the interiors of the hut? The contrast with the town, the streets and shops, the diner, the hospital? The visit to Miguel’s house? The musical score? The use of the drone photography for some sequences for the scenery, the majority as stills format, insertions of beauty?
3. The commitment of Robin Wright, performance, direction?
4. The focus on the solitude, Edee and the interview with the therapist, her feelings, not wanting to be with people? Inheriting the land in Wyoming? Going to the town, the advice, the hauling her possessions, the hut? No phone, no car? The decision to stay away, throwing the phone away, no news from the outside?
5. Edee, her age, the mystery, the flashbacks, husband and son, play? Memories of her sister, their discussions, grief? Keeping the explanation until the end, her grief, her telling Miguel the story?
6. Solitary, the interiors, unpacking, the outhouse, survival by herself, food, fishing, the river and getting the water? Chopping the wood? The physical demands? Psychological demands? Gradually building up her way of life?
7. The seasons, the hardships of winter, the outhouse and the attack of the bear, going into the house and the chaos? The cold, the wood on the fire, tearing the pages for the fire? Health?
8. The arrival of Miguel, Alala, their treating Edee, the gradual recovery? Her refusal to go to the hospital?
9. Miguel, staying, his background as a hunter, seeing the smoke from the hut, not seeing it, his finding Edee? Her not being able to kill the deer? His taking her hunting, the shooting, the meet? The bond between them? His coming and going?

• Edee, her recovery, getting strength, the months passing? Yet haunted by her memories?
• Miguel and his dog, leaving the dog with Edee, the story of the crash and the death of his wife and daughter? His not returning?
• Edee and her concern, going into the town with the dog, the hospital, meeting a Alala, going to see Miguel, his throat cancer, in bed, the Native Americans around him, their respect, the rituals? His confession that he was a drinker and that he had crashed the car?
• Edee, her gratitude towards Miguel, trying to pay him, his refusal, saying that he found her in his path and that he had to help?
• Edee, facing the truth? The possibilities for her future?