Synopsis
Based on a true story, this riveting western follows a headstrong New York widow as she journeys west to meet Sioux chief Sitting Bull, facing off with an army officer intent on war with Native Americans.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Jessica ChastainCatherine Weldon
- Michael GreyeyesSitting Bull
- Sam RockwellSilas Groves
- Ciarán HindsJames McLaughlin
- Chaske SpencerChaska
- Bill CampGeneral Crook
- Willy RunsAboveChief Black Bear
- Louisa KrauseLoretta
- Robert MirabalOnly Man
- Monika CrowfootSeen By The Nation
- 75
The Playlist
It’s the kind of smoothly rounded, edgeless historical drama that’s built for maximum appeal, with a broad perspective and an easy to digest tone. Well-crafted and ably told, this is a film that’s wholly respectable though not particularly memorable, but still manages to connect with its earnest good intentions and desire to please. - 70
Screen Daily
Woman Walks Ahead is a story of defying expectations, finding common ground and gaining knowledge. - 60
The Guardian
Woman Walks Ahead is a solidly crafted and well shot, if basically unchallenging film. - 58
The A.V. Club
Despite the sensitivity of its storytelling, and Chastain’s career-defining passion for playing headstrong, independent women like Mrs. Weldon, it also never really comes to life. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
Despite the estimable talent on hand both behind and in front of the camera, the story never comes to convincing life and doesn’t, in the end, have anywhere particularly surprising or interesting to go. - 50
Variety
Woman Walks Ahead offers dimension to its leading lady, but holds its Native characters to the same old surface stereotypes. Such a movie is a step in the right direction, but farther behind than it seems to realize. - 50
The New York Times
It’s all ridiculously romanticized and self-serving. But the performances are so good (Mr. Greyeyes, in particular, is a miracle of intelligence and dignity) and Michael Eley’s vistas, shimmeringly shot in New Mexico, are so stunning, it feels churlish to resist. - 42
IndieWire
The film suffers enormously from its slippery grasp of history, all of its narrative thrust slipping through the cracks between fact and fiction.