TL;DR – While it starts strong, it unfortunately runs out of gas after the first act as the storyline becomes convoluted.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film

The Stolen Valley Review –

Today, we are looking at a film that is wearing its influences on its sleeves. That is not a bad thing. In fact, just last week, we watched Monkey Man do just that, and it was grand. But there is danger in this approach because if people are constantly thinking about other movies and not your own work, well, something has gone badly wrong. Today, we look at where The Stolen Valley lands on this spectrum. 

So to set the scene, Lupe (Briza Covarrubias) struggles to find her place in the world. Trying to connect with her mother, Lizette (Paulette Lamori), learn her native language, Diné, or just get ahead in a world where everyone is taking from her. But when her mother becomes sick, and there are only experimental and expensive options left, Lupe is forced to find her father, who she thought was dead. But a run-in with Maddy (Allee Sutton Hethcoat) after she just crossed local crime lord Antonio (Ricardo Herranz) leads to a dangerous gun-filled chase.

I will say that the first act is solid. We get all our motivations, which makes sense. The inciting incident is a bit silly, but it also makes an odd kind of sense because you can see how those silly dominoes might fall in that direction. If there is one thing that genuinely helps this film, it is the scenery. The dark, arid landscapes help sell this world, where you have only one direction you can drive, and chaos is coming behind you. However, this is also where we can see some of the pitfalls, namely budget. You can feel, especially in some of the action scenes, that if there had been a little bit more give, there would have been a more coherent line or maybe a touch more depth.   

Unfortunately, from this strong foundation, things start swinging from getting deeply uncomfortable to weirdly saccharin. Part of this comes from the film trying to tackle too many themes that it could do effectively or had the capacity to explore in the depth that was needed. Characters are helplessly naïve when they should know better, show remorse for reasons that don’t match with their narratives, and then we get some really clunky exposition. At times, it feels like what we have is two different scripts that got meshed together at some point, and it never truly came together. There are moments when it all comes together, but they are few and far between, which gets worse when the coincidences start piling up.

In the end, do we recommend The Stolen Valley? Unfortunately, not. There was a solid foundation here, but it felt like it got away from the filmmakers as the film progressed. If you liked The Stolen Valley, we would recommend to you The Drover’s Wife.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched The Stolen Valley?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 


Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Stolen Valley
Directed by – Jesse Edwards
Written by – Jesse Edwards
Music by – Ryan Taubert
Cinematography by – Jesse Edwards
Edited by – Zach Prichard
Production/Distribution Companies –Blue Fox Entertainment, Evolve Studios & Lightbulb Film Distribution
Starring – Briza Covarrubias, Allee Sutton Hethcoat, Micah Fitzgerald, Paula Miranda, Paulette Lamori, Oscar Balderrama, Ricardo Herranz, Danny Arroyo, Harold Skow, David Ogle, Jeron Bray, Noah Collins, Dave Martinez, Esteban Cueto, Antonio Lexerot, Craig Rapacki & Todd Rulapaugh
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: na; Germany: na; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13