Sundance 2022: God’s Country Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Characters choosing to live in isolation from the rest of the world for whatever reason just can’t be left alone it seems. This subgenre has allowed for some great lead performances and when it comes to God’s Country, it is a much-deserved starring vehicle for Thandiwe Newton who delivers a phenomenal lead performance, showing great range and depth as the film’s damaged lead. The film is a slow burn and a journey through a woman’s pain and grief that she wholeheartedly sells. That being said, the pace won’t be for everyone while those unable to connect to the main character will have a hard time watching. Nevertheless, it is a powerful thriller that is sure to leave audiences on the edge of their seats as they feel a range of emotions as it touches some deeper themes to varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, the film is also absolutely beautiful, taking advantage of the Montana countryside.

God’s Country follows a woman named Sandra Guidry (Newton) whose grief took her to a cabin outside a small, predominately white, rural Montana town were she worked as a college professor. Her status would be put in jeopardy after an encounter with a pair of trespassing hunters. A woman of few words, not that she had to talk while living alone with her dog, she would be thrust into action in order to defend her private grieving. As their conflict escalated, Guidry was confronted by the dynamics of the town she currently called home and where she worked. Being an outsider in her community and a woman in a male-dominated environment, let alone a black woman, she was essentially on her own therefore that was what she did and took matters into her own hands which was compelling to watch as her better nature gave way to frustration and pain. Though she wasn’t a perfect person by any means, she may have made mistakes but this made her human and her mission satisfying.

The Montana setting acted as another character in the story as the film sprinkled in some strong supporting work that made the most out of their roles and added context and that much more depth. However at the end of the day, the best part of God’s Country was Newton’s phenomenal and understated lead performance as Guidry. Audiences can feel all the layers of pain and frustration beneath her brooding exterior with the last shot of the film being the epitome of that.

Overall, God’s Country won’t be for everyone but some great character work from Thandiwe Newton is worth it.

*still courtesy of Sundance

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.