User Reviews

I saw The Stolen Valley, starring Briza Covarrubias-Ant_Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Fortnight_tv; Allee Sutton Hethcoat-Remember the Goal, The Dust Storm; Paula Miranda-Dexter_tv, Las Vegas_tv and Micah Fitzgerald-Amityville Uprising, The Call of the Wild_2020.

This is a by the numbers movie that is not really that bad but it is predictable. Briza is a Mexican/Navajo mechanic with a sick mother, Paula, who needs some expensive medical treatment or she will soon die. Briza goes to a pawn shop to sell some jewelry where she meets Allee-who dresses like a cowgirl, wearing a cowboy hat and she has a 6 gun strapped to her leg. Allee gets into a shootout in the pawn shop and takes Briza with her in her escape. Allee discovers that her father, Micah, may be able to help her financially so she and Allee decide to find him and ask him for help. The pawn shop owner and his thugs are in hot pursuit of Briza & Allee and the trails converge on a corrupt land thief that also ties several plot threads together.

It's rated PG-13 for violence, language, smoking and sexual content-no nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 45 minutes.

It's not one that I would buy on DVD but it would be alright to stream.

I am from Utah, where this film is set, so I was pleased to see local stories told, or at least stories based here. I watched the movie having not seen the trailer or given any plot summaries. I like to let the movie take me where the writer wants me to go, at the pace they set.

At 105 minutes, I felt some character development could have been worth pushing 120 minutes. I wanted to be more invested in the main characters and how they can save their tribal lands. I liked the Mexican mob element, but I didn't follow well why the protagonist was involved with him and how deep. I didn't feel much danger from them, as a typical mobster would have wacked her pretty quickly for being disrespectful. It seemed like too much shooting, without a great plan and without great aim.

That said, I really appreciated the elements that shook up the archetypical Whitey vs The Natives storyline. The antagonist was pretty over the top greasy, but fell short of being blatantly racist. I wish I had more of his motivations though, who hurt him to make him so greedy and cruel? I truly felt compassion for the grandmother as the advocate for her people. It was refreshing to see her play it so naive and trusting, almost childlike. I feel like that's the spirit we should strive for, not naivety, but humility and meekness. I felt her as a beautiful spirit, but mourned for her ignorance that led to such suffering, much like my own mother and so many beautiful women who have been hurt by heartless men.

It was a thoroughly entertaining modern western! Beautiful landscapes shot in Arizona and Utah! Some unexpected plot twists and not just a fairytale ending! Micah's character, Carl, is well- played. I liked the fact that they used subtitles for Spanish and Diné. It's important to preserve the language and heritage of our First Nations! At the Q and A after the showing, Suite Navajo actors are used but also locals with little or no acting. Maddy's character is fun and entertaining. I would have liked to know more of the backstory of her character and how she got in trouble with Antonio. I recommend it!!