Wild is the Wind is a crime-drama movie written and directed by Fabian Medea and stars Mothusi Magano, Frank Rautenbach and Chris Chameleon, alongside other cast members. The movie has a runtime of 123 minutes.
The Netflix description of the movie reads:
When two corrupt police officers investigate the brutal murder of a young girl, tensions come to a head in their small, racially-segregated town.
– Wild is the Wind Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Based in South Africa, Wild is the Wind focuses on a myriad of problems in a small township rife with a murderer and racism. The movie starts interestingly enough, and the adrenaline rush is quite exquisite as it gives us a taste of what’s about to come. Although the thrill wanes away after a while, thanks to a rather slow pace, there are still some interesting moments here.
However, I think we first need to talk about the protagonists. John is the level-headed one of the two and often makes the logical call till he doesn’t. Vusi, however, is the interesting one of the two in that he’s absolutely off the rails. The smallest bit of provocation and you see him flying in to hit someone or jumping to conclusions without any proof. It’s honestly extremely scary to watch him go from 0 to 100 in a span of a minute.
It’s also interesting to note that although the movie tries to show him as different from all the horrible people around him, he doesn’t come through looking all sparkly and clean. He’s corrupt and quick to anger – not at all something you’d want in a protagonist.
Now, coming to the story, Wild is the Wind gives mixed signals – the movie is more about poverty and desperation than it is about race. Sure, there are mentions of how dead Black people don’t get as much attention as a dead white person. However, the racism elements are quite subtle, with tensions and doubts springing in here and there.
I think that’s brilliant – the movie doesn’t shove the racism down our throats, but you can clearly see the distinction between the Black and white people of the township in some subtle places. Of course, money still plays the biggest role here, but you know that there are clearly some racial tensions just below the surface, even within the police department.
The movie, in spite of its interesting storyline, loses a lot of steam thanks to its slow pacing. The pacing really leaves a lot to be desired, and although you want to see the perpetrator caught, the movie takes a bit too long to get to the point. We also see too much of Vusi’s personal life that doesn’t go with the overarching serial killer theme. These themes weave in and out, but most of the time, it feels like the murder thing gets pushed to the side in lieu of personal stuff.
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The ending of Wild is the Wind, however, just goes off the rails. It’s straight out of sillyville with the conspiracy theories and whatnot. It’s actually quite hilarious and somewhat unbelievable. Before that, the movie was grounded in reality. Unfortunately, the last fight is just so odd, considering how the movie doesn’t really flesh out the crime that well.
Summing Up: Wild is the Wind
Wild is the Wind is just a hot and cold movie. Sometimes it holds a great pace, sometimes, it chooses to focus on mundane things that don’t tie into anything. There are moments that are simply boring, and the ending doesn’t land quite well and feels like it comes out of nowhere. All in all, this was a miss for me personally.
Wild is the Wind is streaming on Netflix.
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