The Dark Wind

Produced by Robert Redford, this was the first in a proposed series of films based on Tony Hillerman's contemporary Navajo thrillers. Phillips stars as Tribal Policeman Jim Chee, embroiled in four complicated cases ranging from vandalism to drugs and murder - or are they all the same case? It seems appropriate that Errol Morris, the film-maker/detective whose documentary The Thin Blue Line freed a convicted murderer, should make his first fiction feature about a shaman/cop. Evidently, he shares Hillerman's respect for Native American culture, but this is a less distinctive film than might have been anticipated (Redford might almost have directed it). What we get is an engrossing, thoughtful and unusual mystery which arguably tips us the wink too early. It's very faithful to the novel - perhaps that's the problem.