Mysterious Circumstance: The Death of Meriwether Lewis

From reading "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose, I was acquainted with the suspicious "suicide" of the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis at a Tennessee "tavern." "Mysterious Circumstances" is an exploration of alternative versions of what might have happened, filmed with considerable attention to authenticity in locale and the era. Many historians have accepted the "suicide" version, but Lewis was traveling on a notoriously dangerous trail, and shooting oneself twice and then cutting oneself "from head to foot with a razor" is a suspicious "suicide," to say the least. The various accounts of the same event are evocative of Akira Kurosawa's approach to storytelling in "Rashomon" (1950), the one flaw being that the versions here are not clearly accounts by different witnesses to the same events but are perhaps rooted in later speculation by those who found the accepted version singularly bizarre. The first version depicted in this movie seems to be close to the version that prevailed, essentially by default. And it is, indeed, played as singularly bizarre. Two previous reviewers (action addicts, no doubt) rated this movie 1 star; 11 other previous reviewers rated it 9 or 10 stars. No way does this average 4.8. My quick calculation makes it about 7.6. This film is worth watching if you have more than a juvenile attention span and are intrigued by mystery.

So why create a movie about the death of Lewis of Lewis and Clark, when no one has any idea how he died?

The case is still unsolved and the worst part of the movie is that random, sometimes incredibly stupid stories are made up though two hours of what could have happened......really.....so we get five totally different random stories about what could have happened on the night that he died.

I kept waiting for a conclusion to this stupid movie, but there was not one....just make believe stories....a couple of which were not even believable Why not make up ten stories and make the movie four hours long....two hours wasted....no end.

My husband and I really enjoyed the movie! We live in Tennessee and were unaware of the fact that Lewis was buried in Hohenwald, Tn. That was a total surprise to us. The different scenarios in the movie regarding the death of Meriwether Lewis were all plausible to us. We felt the most believable was the murder scenario!

The casting was excellent and the costumes were perfect for the time too. The cold season added a touch too along with the roaring fire.

Absolutely loved the animals in the movie! The dog was very well trained and his part made total sense leading the way on the trails and being a protector for Meriwether!

A period in history that I never knew of. I learned a thing or too despite my advanced age. This is a good enjoyable flick.

"Mysterious Circumstances, The Death of Meriwether Lewis", is the story of the tragic and historic event, the death of legendary explorer Meriwether Clark in Baldwyn Mississippi. The film is full of shady figures during cold and dark times many years ago. A real "who done it" featuring love, action and of course history.

We were glued to our seats throughout the film wondering what's next.

The movie was even a bit spooky!

I loved the dog in this film too. He was amazing in the role he played.

We enjoyed this movie thoroughly!

I was anxious to watch this and learn something about American history that I was woefully ignorant of.

And I remain so.

After less than 30 minutes, I couldn't take anymore of Governor Meriwether's outrageous and "WAY over the top" antics. I felt as if I were watching a movie from the 1930s with the massively exaggerated movements in whatever he was doing.

The dog was a delight - as are all animals, but he couldn't save Meriweather's performance.

The cell phone text notices going off randomly were also an unwelcomed bonus. If I were a betting person, I'd bet it was the director's phone.

Again - I DID want to like this film!! I tried! "They" just made it impossible.

The dog got it an extra star.