Thousands have had such dreams, but Dick Proenneke lived them. To be not at odds with the world, but content with one's own thoughts and company. To be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available. To choose an idyllic site, cut trees and build a log cabin. To roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed. “Land” is a resonant reminder of the importance of friendship in any and all forms.To live in a pristine land unchanged by man. While “Land” doesn’t quite fit the solo female-survival thriller label one might imagine it to be initially, it results in something much more profound, asserting that human connection is integral to healing, and that so are words of encouragement, love and understanding.Īlthough Edee might have sought solitude, her salvation comes from the human connection that crossed her path. Fighting to survive reminds her that she does want to live, after all. As she becomes more competent and confident in this existence, she begins to transcend mere survival and starts, indeed, to thrive. This necessary reliance on other people, as well as the tasks required to stay alive in this place, have an effect of working on Edee from the outside in. The views are nature-made, but Bobby Bukowski’s cinematography captures them, and Wright within them, beautifully. She’s often shot simply, in quiet repose, or performing all-consuming physical labor, set against the breathtaking vistas of this place, set to the music of cellist Ben Sollee and string trio Time For Three. The film itself is quiet, too, with Wright’s expressions and gestures speaking volumes about her emotional state. Miguel is hurting, too, and his quiet companionship and steady wisdom is exactly what Edee needs as he never probes beyond her emotional limits. She accepts some guidance from a local man, Miguel (Demian Bichir), who teaches her to trap and hunt. On this land, it’s a challenge to survive alone, which Edee learns the hard way. She picks up supplies, tosses her phone in the trash and moves into a dusty cabin with no running water, electricity or a way out. She needs to be alone in nature to go through this, and whether or not she comes out on the other side seems irrelevant. In this moment of desperation, a primal instinct takes over, pushing her toward the mountains abutting the Shoshone National Forest. In an opening scene that briefly addresses her emotional state before the mountain, she informs a therapist that she’s unable to share with anyone in her life because they just want her to be better. Working with a script by Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam, as well as stunning Alberta, Canada, locations (standing in for Wyoming), Wright directs and stars in this simple but resonant story about a woman who finds personal salvation in a remote mountain cabin among a punishing, yet nourishing landscape.Įdee (Wright) just wants to be alone. In her directorial debut, “Land,” actress Robin Wright crafts a film about a woman battling the wilderness, until she learns to live in it, not fight against it.
The wilderness survival thriller has long been a male-dominated subgenre, though in recent years, more female-fronted films have emerged, including Reese Witherspoon’s “Wild” and “Adrift,” starring Shailene Woodley.
0 kommentar(er)
