Film Review – BFI LFF 2021: Wild Indian – Out on all Digital Platforms – Friday 29th October 2021

I was lucky enough to be able to watch this film as a part of this year’s London Film Festival and I have to admit I was very surprised by it, I wasn’t expecting it to be such a deep film that would have me thinking about it long after I’d watched it.

Synopsis

Makwa and Ted-O, two Anishinaabe men, are inextricably bound together after covering up the savage murder of a schoolmate. After years of separation following wildly divergent paths, they must finally confront how their traumatic secret has irrevocably shaped their lives.

Take a look at the trailer…

My Thoughts

Wild Indian is written and directed by Lyle Mitchell Corbin Jr, it starts with both main characters as kids, we are shown their different family situations and are involved in an incident which threatens both of their futures.

The film fast forwards to when both teenage boys are now men, leading separate lives, but with the one big secret that they share, we see how their lives have followed completely different paths and how the secret and their backgrounds has affected them individually.

This film is entertaining from the start and the atmosphere intensifies gradually as the film goes on, which the soundtrack by Gavin Brivik really contributes to.

The themes in this film cover friendship, father and son bonds, secrets and moral dilemmas – such as – is it possible to the “right thing for the wrong reasons”?

I found myself shifting sides throughout the film and towards the end, I had chosen, but not entirely sure with my choice, the film shows how life is not quite black & white, and right & wrong, and is a complex messy mix of facts, emotions and morals.

Watch this film from Friday 29th October on your favourite digital platform.

Thanks for reading & enjoy!

Chanel x

Chanel Williams