It could be the PG rating, or it could be the odd jump into daytime soap opera, but The Stolen Valley is a film that never lands what it sets out to be. That being, I believe, to be a modern-day Western, which isn’t culturally insensitive to Native Americans. However, by swaying too far into being preachy and forgetting to make the film’s action engaging, there’s a lot to be disappointed in when watching this film.
The Stolen Valley introduces Mexican-Navajo Lupe (Briza Covarrubias) as a smart mechanic with a good heart and with much love for her culture and people. When her mother falls sick with cancer, she sets off to track down the father she has never met, whom she believes will help her get the money her mother needs for surgery. Along the way, she bumps into cowgirl Maddy (Allee Sutton Hethcoat), who is attempting to escape a cartel boss. After Lupe unwittingly helps Maddy, the team is now in the same boat, and they are teamed up to escape trouble and make the journey to find Lupe’s father, where, hopefully, money awaits them both.
There’s a heavy hand as the plot moves all the pieces into place, never allowing the audience to think or put anything together themselves. And the final act has one the best ‘jumping the shark’ twists I’ve seen recently. One of the earliest ways in which director Edwards lets you know this film is about how Native Americans are treated is when a tip for Lupe is taken from her white boss. Of course, it’s not as if I disagree with the ideas within the film, and there are actually some rather intriguing introductions to Navajo culture, but the film is heavy-handed to the point of making your head sore.
Written and directed by Jesse Edwards as his first feature, it’s commendable to tackle themes about injustice within American history and even how a genre has mistreated and villainized its co-stars and made heroes of the villains.
Even when we’re finally introduced to our villain, Carl (Micah Fitzgerald), there needs to be more follow-through to Fitzgerald’s sinister performance. Between lacklustre and badly choreographed shootouts and disappointing one-on-ones with our heroes, the performance is way underserving of the material Fitzgerald brings to life.
Covarrubias and Hethcoat breathe life into Lupe and Maddie; although the script gives them little time to get to know one another with odd decisions like having them pretend to dance to on dance to dodge their pursuers just minutes before having escaped, they were completely unnecessary. Perhaps scared to slow down the pace too much, Edwards falls into hitting each page with some shootout or set-piece.
(Screener provided to Explosion Network.
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