Wild Indian (Sundance 2021); Grade: B-

Strictly Films welcomes you to more coverage of this years Sundance Film Festival! Our next film on the block: Wild Indian.

Wild Indian tells a story about a boy named Makwa (Stone Garcia) whom lives with an abusive father figure. Makwa was beaten severely by this man, gets partially bullied in school, and worst of all (sarcasm)... The cutest girl in his school is taken by someone supposedly less superior to Makwa, according to Makwa. Makwa couldn't take all the abuse he was getting at home and partially at school, so Makwa takes it out on the kid whom is dating the cutest girl in school... Huh?! Makwa (Michael Greyeyes) now an older gentleman, rich, married, and a father is living lavish. But Makwa will soon have to deal with his haunted past, as he will confront his deepest darkest secret.

The Cinematography t'was solid, nice shot film however there are not any memorable shots worth discussing. The Score was solid, there are some solid composed music sequences. The cast all in all t'was solid as well. Michael Greyeyes playing Makwa played a solid performance. As far as the character Makwa at first you feel bad for the little guy, as he's dealing with some major issues at home. But when he takes it out on a helpless kid, who did absolutely nothing wrong to deserve murder... I then completely hated this character, in terms of antagonist he was perfect. Whomever played Dave-O or David-O sorry can't quite remember the name, but he had a solid performance as well both young and older. I honestly felt bad for Dave-O as the murder was entirely not his fault, it's unfortunate Makwa had to murder the kid with Dave-O's dads rifle, so there was no way Dave-O could get out of this situation. You really feel absolutely terrible for Dave-O just how he turned out to be, a past inmate now covered with face tattoos... It's a shame, as his kind spirit still stands out as he plays with his nephew.

I do have issues with Wild Indian. The one issue that seems to not left my mind is Makwa murdering the helpless classmate... Why?! No seriously... Why?! I can see Makwa murdering the somewhat father figure in the household that's beating him to death or even murdering the kid who keeps bullying him, may not condone either or action but it's justify to what brought Makwa motivation to murder them at least. But for Makwa to murder this helpless child, who has done absolutely NOTHING to Makwa, as the only justification is he's dating a girl Makwa likes... Like are you freaking kidding me?! It drives me absolutely nuts thinking about it, as the entire time watching I'm going "alright... But what was the point in killing that kid for?!" I didn't care for the prologue scene in the beginning as it concluded in the finale, found it pretty ridiculous and unneeded. "Oh but that prologue simply meant from a land before time, men were savages, therefore it follows through the present."... Yeah sure, ok.

The story of Wild Indian despite my issues, is actually an engaging watch, as we see both of these characters try and move on from this tragic event. Makwa turned out to make something of himself and not let his past demons get the best of him. While Dave-O could not shake off his past demons, as the trauma he dealt with from that tragic event really haunted him deeply, causing his character to change drastically. There is also a disturbing unsettling nature while watching Makwa as an adult. Especially in that strip club scene, as Makwa still holds on deeply into his sinister ways, as you can tell the Makwa we once knew before the murder is gone and will never be back.

I also would like to point out one effective scene and that was Makwa partaking in Friday the 13th. Some people in today's society believe that film and video games help inspire individuals to become violent beings... Which is complete stupidity at it's finest. Human beings are not influence to harm other humans by what they watch, human beings are influence to harm other humans by how we treat them. It's so dumbfounded to look at that scene and go, "Oh that violent movie made Makwa turn into a murderer!" When before Makwa even partaken in watching that film... Makwa was getting beaten to death, for no apparent reason other than breathing. That's why Makwa fell off the edge, not because of some horror film, hopefully the audience will look at that scene and realize it's important how we treat each other, rather than using a form of media as a scapegoat as to why human beings turn to evil. So at least Wild Indian has that scene up for discussion.

Overall, Wild Indian is a fairly decent film. I recommend checking this one out. You know I originally advise an associate at work that I was unavailable to work the day of this film’s premiere, as I found out they still scheduled me... I don’t know man. Well I just called them to let them know I was running late, as I was about an half an hour late. My reward?! Not only more money coming from my paycheck, but received an unexpected Christmas gift, and received free food along with it... So I guess them scheduling me for work, worked out aye ok B A B Y! -Mitch Smietana