Moviegoers who like the Netflix series Longmire are sure to be intrigued by the film WIND RIVER as the two have much in common. Both are set in Wyoming, where the unforgiving terrain plays as much a part as the humans who live there and the plentiful Native American reservations throughout the region generate racial tensions many unfamiliar with Wyoming may not realize exist.

In both the series and the movie, interaction between residents of a reservation and the "white" people living near the reservation is key to the story. Both have similar themes and characters (even a few of the same actors, as I mention below). Both have storylines highlighting the underlying distrust between Native Americans and townsfolk as well as the differences in how criminal justice is served — or not — on the rez and off. Characters of the series and the film include good guys and bad guys on both sides, folks who...