GOD’S COUNTRY

Director: Julian Higgins

2022, USA, 103min., NR

Screenwriter: Higgins and Shaye Ogbonna, based on the short story by James Lee Burke

Cast: Thandiwe Newton, Dan Gravage, Tanaya Beatty, Jeremy Bobb, Joris Jarsky, Jefferson White, Kai Lennox, Julian Higgins

 

For TV viewers who only know British actress Thandiwe Newton O.B.E. from Westworld and Line of Duty, her starring appearance on the big screen will be a revelation. Newton is brilliant in her role as Sacha Guitry, a university professor recently moved from New Orleans to Montana, stunning in its natural beauty. But unlike Guitry, “God’s Country” is overwhelming white and conservative. The film opens with Guitry returning from her mother’s cremation to find two red pick-ups in her driveway. Her request that the two local hunters leave her property is met with incomprehension and defiance. Over an increasingly nail-biting week, the incident grows into a feud fueled by their glaring differences. Calling on her impressive determination, Guitry fights to understand her adversaries…and prevent catastrophe.

“One of the best and buzziest films out of this year’s Sundance Festival. Newton is terrific in it!” – Alissa Wilkinson, Vox.com.