SummaryBased on true events, Woman Walks Ahead tells the story of Catherine Weldon (Jessica Chastain), a widowed artist from New York who, in the 1880s, traveled alone to North Dakota to paint a portrait of Chief Sitting Bull (Michael Greyeyes). Her arrival at Standing Rock is welcomed with open hostility by a US Army officer (Sam Rockwell), who has sta... Read More
Directed By:Susanna White
Written By:Steven Knight
Woman Walks Ahead
Metascore
Mixed or Average
51
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
51
32% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
63% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Jul 26, 2018
80
Woman Walks Ahead has some narrative issues but is ultimately a well-acted biographical drama.
Apr 24, 2018
75
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.
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
33% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
57% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
10% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Apr 27, 2021
7
Entertaining. Well acted. Good cinematography. Slow paced, character driven, decent script that does have several historical inaccuracies, but also portrays some informative historical facts on the 1887 Dawes Act, the Sioux Bill, the treatment of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux and their leader Sitting Bull, and the unrest in the Dakota Territory. Not sure why it has the R rating, no blatant nudity or language with 2 mildly violent scenes. If you watch, not for historical accuracy, but purely for entertainment value, this is a compelling and enjoyable movie worth 7 stars IMHO! (to get the historically accurate info, I suggest looking up Sitting Bull and Catherine Weldon after watching the film) /April 2021
Aug 30, 2020
6
Jessica Chastain plays Catherine Weldon, a widowed artist who travels from New York to North Dakota in the 1880s to paint a portrait of Chief Sitting Bull (Michael Greyeyes). While there, she becomes part of the movement to help the Lakota maintain the rights for their land (Sam Rockwell is one of the hostile Army officers). Exposing these injustices never gains much dramatic traction and her relationship with the Chief has potential, but also fails to fully develop. Overall, this is an interesting historical footnote with strong performances, but not a very compelling movie.
Jul 26, 2018
60
The resolute Greyeyes and the always-brilliant Chastain chart their respective characters with real chemistry, and White captures the pair’s brewing romantic tension. For underscoring the brief but beautiful optimism of two ill-fated outliers, her woman comes out ahead.
Jun 28, 2018
58
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.
Jun 28, 2018
50
The good intentions it carries out to the plains don’t make up for the tentative falseness at its center, a hero who could herself benefit from a portraitist’s clear vision.
Apr 24, 2018
50
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.
Jun 25, 2018
38
As a character, Catherine Weldon suffers the same fate as Sitting Bull, having been reduced to a signifier of the filmmakers' retroactive political correctness.
Jun 30, 2018
5
A film well done in all the extension of the word but enormously lackluster and too inclined towards the melodrama which lacks solidity in spite of the good interventions of its actors. This film reminds me of Mary Shelley that I recently saw and not because they have something in common but because both films are two good ideas with simplistic and boring executions.
Production Company:
- Black Bicycle Entertainment
- Lipsync
- Potboiler Productions
- The Bedford Falls Company
Release Date:Jun 29, 2018
Duration:1 h 41 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Defy your times.
Awards
Red Nation Film Festival
• 3 Wins & 7 Nominations
C&I Movie and TV Awards
• 3 Wins & 5 Nominations
Heartland Film
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
