Catch the Fair One, now streaming on Hulu, is one of only a handful of movies that gives screentime to the harsh reality of missing Indigenous women in the United States and Canada. With power-punching electric star Kali Reis at its center, this film is more than worth watching.

Kali Reis Takes The Lead

I had never even heard of Kali Reis before I watched True Detective: Night Country. But once she hit my radar, I dove deep into her story and found that, in addition to acting, she has been winning titles in boxing for the past decade.

This would account for her solid build and fighter’s stance in virtually every scene she’s in, romantic or not. I also discovered that Reis made her acting debut just a couple of years ago in an independent film, Catch the Fair One.

A Dark Investigation

Much like her role in True Detective, her character in Catch the Fair One, Kaylee, is on a mission to help her sister uncover the abductors of Indigenous girls. The film opens as Kaylee is serving food at a small restaurant and training with her coach. She was once a professional boxer but has fallen on hard times since her sister, Weeta, was sold into sex slavery and has been missing.

Can Be Hard To Watch

The entire goal of Catch the Fair One is to figure out where Weeta is, but Kaylee has no contact and few leads. Her coach sets her up with a woman who promises to “sell” Kaylee into slavery, at which point Kaylee can investigate from within. We watch as Kaylee prepares for her undercover project, sleeping with a razor blade in her cheek, training to fight men much larger than her, and keeping her head down and her demeanor meek.

She arrives at the motel with other girls being sold, the entire atmosphere fraught with tension and danger, and then we follow Kaylee into a motel room with the buyer, the man charged with trafficking the girls. He insists Kaylee take drugs, even though she tells him she’s sober, and then it takes a darker turn. It’s a revolting scene that makes you feel both dirty and hopeful that something good can come of this whole setup. We just want Kaylee to catch the fair one.

Highlights A Real Issue

Kaylee is sold to a buyer who has a penchant for Native girls, and from there, everything goes from bad to worse. She’s chloroformed, tied up, kidnapped, taken to a house, and beaten up. Kaylee’s training better kick in fast, or not only will she not catch the fair one, but she’ll also find herself in the missing or dead category for Indigenous girls. You’ll have to watch the film to see what happens, but I have no problem telling you that there is no happy ending to be found here.

And perhaps that is as it should be. Just like with Wind River and True Detective: Night Country, the stories about Indigenous girls on this continent are largely unhappy ones. They go missing, they’re sold into slavery, and they’re murdered, and no one bats an eye.

Streaming On Hulu

These stories don’t make the front page. They don’t even make the back page. It would be disingenuous to have Catch the Fair One end on a high note. The purpose of this film is to tell the truth and wake people up. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Kali Reis is brilliant, and the movie feels authentic, gritty, gripping, and brutal. It gave me nightmares, necessary ones, but it still haunted me after watching it. Watch Catch the Fair One when you’re ready for some raw, in-your-face reality.