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.

The stories of Lewis and Clark are fascinating, but this movie takes us on a journey on the death of Meriwether Lewis which remains unsolved.

The movie is not a happy story, certainly not humorous, as it offers different versions of how Lewis may have actually died. Evan Williams portrays at least three different versions of Lewis -- depressed, mentally exhausted and broken; confident and dignified; and lustful and careless -- as each possibility is explored.

It starts out slow and odd. In fact, I stopped watching it the first time at about 20 minutes but decided to rewatch it after learning more about the questions that continue of this remarkable man's demise.

The movie does not offer an answer, but instead leaves the viewer thinking -- and hopefully wanting to learn more about this explorer's life and death.

*I give Rex the dog a "10" for his performance as Seaman.

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!

Mysterious Circumstance portrays what it feels like when you and your friends gather together to theorize the truth of mysteries. The diversity seen in everyone's ability to act through completely different scenarios and provide a variety of personalities per character is an accomplishment of masterful talent.

The film eludes to many different possible outcomes without ever stating to know more than is common knowledge. The film is an experience of it's own kind. It's almost an Anthology of possible scenarios. The funnest part is going through each story and spotting the similarities and differentiating between them.

What comes off as a passion project to many will also come to be a lovable classic in the homes of many who love a good mystery and to those who love theorizing.