Susan Granger’s review of “Dark Winds” (AMC)
Starting its second season, AMC’s Western series “Dark Winds” is a pulpy procedural drama set in New Mexico’s Navajo Nation during the early 1970s.
Based on two of Tony Hillerman’s best-selling novels – “Listening Woman” and “People of Darkness” – it revolves around laconic tribal police officer Joe Leaphorn, played by veteran character actor Zahn McClaron (“Reservation Dogs”), who is actually Lakota on his mother’s side.
Lt. Joe Leaphorn runs the only police station on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo reservation so he’s in charge when there’s a double homicide at a local motel. Racist FBI Agent Whitover (Noah Emmerich) suggests that the murders might draw more attention if Leaphorn would help with an off-reservation armored-car robbery, so it’s all about the power-dynamics of law enforcement.
Joe is assigned an ambitious new Deputy, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), who is determined to expand his horizons as a private investigator. Chee’s first client turns out to be a mysterious blonde (Jeri Ryan) who wants him to retrieve a box of personal effects stolen from her home.
Joe’s empathetic wife Emma (Deanna Allison) is still grieving over the death of their young adult son in a mine explosion when she takes in a pregnant teen (Elva Guerra). Meanwhile, Sergeant Bernadette ‘Bern’ Manuelito (Jessica Matten) may join the Border Patrol to expand her career opportunities.
Produced by Robert Redford, George R.R. Martin and series creator Graham Roland (“Jack Ryan”), it’s filmed in and around Monument Valley, having been adapted by and primarily directed by Native Americans, who have amplified the women’s roles and depicted the supernatural Navajo culture as a spiritual experience.
The Navajo refer to themselves as the Dine or Dineh, literally meaning “The People.” Tony Hillerman was named Special Friend of the Dineh by the Navajo Nation in 1987 – the only non-Native to receive that award.
FYI: Years ago, PBS made a trio of TV-movies adapted from Tony Hillerman’s books, starring Wes Studi as Joe Leaphorn and Adam Beach as Jim Chee; Fred Ward and Lou Diamond Phillips have also embodied the archetypal characters.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Dark Winds” is an authentically indigenous, engrossing 8, streaming on AMC.
