Catherine Weldon, a Swiss-American portrait painter, travels from Brooklyn, New York to the Dakotas in the 1890s to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull. She becomes embroiled in the Lakota people's struggle over the rights to their land.[4]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 44 reviews, and an average rating of 5.9/10.[14] The site's critical consensus reads, "Woman Walks Ahead gets some extra mileage out of watchable work from Jessica Chastain and Michael Greyeyes, but uneven pacing and two-dimensional characters undermine their efforts." On Metacritic, which assigns a rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]
Despite mixed reviews, Michael Greyeyes received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Sitting Bull.[16][17][18][19]The New York Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis called his performance "a miracle of intelligence and dignity".[16]RogerEbert.com contributor Susan Wloszczyna raved about his performance, calling it "the most subtle, soulful, and believable".[17]Los Angeles Times and Village Voice critics described his presence as captivating as “wry wit and quiet gravity”, while the latter described his performance as "stirring".[18]
Historical Accuracy
The circumstances of Sitting Bull's death are portrayed inaccurately in Woman Walks Ahead. Near the end of the film, several Indian Agency policemen arrive at Sitting Bull's cabin to arrest him. He surrenders peacefully and mounts a horse. Meanwhile, a solitary gunman of unknown identity lurks in a nearby building. Once Sitting Bull is astride his horse, the gunman fires a single shot, knocking the chief off his mount and killing him instantly.
In truth, Sitting Bull refused to go quietly when the police arrived. There was a struggle between Sitting Bull's followers and the policemen, which resulted in a total of thirteen people being killed, including Sitting Bull.[20]
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