Is a film still considered a “white savior” story if its white protagonist never actually saves anything? In the case of Susanna White’s “Woman Walks Ahead,” it’s certainly not for lack of trying. A listless but lustrously shot biopic about the 19th century New York widow who traveled to North Dakota, painted the Sioux chief Sitting Bull, and then served as an advocate for his tribe as they fought the United States government’s attempts to expropriate their land, the movie almost credits Caroline Weldon as being solely responsible for the Native American resistance to the Dawes Act. Moreover, it also forgives her role in the massacre that followed. On their own, those issues are more frustrating than fatal. As a self-contained story, however, the film suffers enormously from its slippery grasp of history, all of its narrative thrust slipping through the cracks between fact and fiction.

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“Go away. I'm writing to my congressman.”

The film was set in a time where women and Native Americans were devalued. It was a slow burn, but eventually got pretty good toward the end. I'm not sure about Jessica Chastain's accent, but the performance ended up being pretty powerful.

Vegan alerts:
-Discussions about buckskins and moccasins made of "soft" buckskin
-A discussion about using buffalo's brains to soften the hide
-Buffalo bones on the hillside
-Riding horses

Note: there is also violence shown toward humans as well (people roughed up and also shot).

i fell asleep

It loses steam in the middle, but you can bet that this history pic is anything but boring. Jessica Chastain and Michael Greyeyes do well together as Caroline Weldon and Sitting Bull, and their chemistry together is impeccable. The camerawork is absolutely gorgeous, and the last 15 minutes hit you really hard.

There is a horse trained by Buffalo Bill to dance at the sound of a gunshot.

There is such poetry in this movie, and lyricism. With names like Edward Zwick and Steven Knight in the credits, this is no wonder.

(Translated loosely from film-critic-speak: the movie is kinda slow, but beautiful to look at.)

I went into the film knowing nothing about the history behind it and after finishing the film, I read that it wasn't that accurate anyways so like ?? I was also bored for majority of the film.

This movie definitely could have been a little more historically driven than it was, but it’s still a movie worth a watch. The cinematography deserves recognition because it was by far one of the best things Woman Walks Ahead offers. Some issues are the way the first and second half feel like sort of different movies, and how some character motivations don’t make that much sense. The acting is good and I did like the production design quite a bit.

great performance by Jessica Chastain

Great performances, aided by the presence of Sam Rockwell, make this watchable. Its a bit clunky, but in the end I was glad I had watched it.

Important film/movie.

I really, really, wanted to enjoy this film more than I did. It had many key ingredients for a film that would be in my top 100. However, the execution and editing blocked my ability to emotionally connect with these characters and this story. I was left with a film that felt like a shadow of what was possible.

More a story about Sitting Bull then about Catherine Weldon, which really serves the film. The performance of Jessica Chastain however, same as Michael Greyeyes', was pretty good.

Unfortunately there are some big lengths in the middle of the film.

Powerful story, average execution