Meek's Cutoff

Its unorthodox – 'revisionist' – take on the Western will stimulate more debate than the story itself. It's sure to be praised for its presumed artistic qualities, but I watch Westerns for their brio and sense of fun, never as art.

My verdict is that 'Meek's Cutoff' is slow – definitely slow and not 'well-paced' – desultory and monotonous. And yet every time the film was on the cusp of being disengaging, it did something to regain my attention. I saw the film twice and still couldn't decide what it was about. This is a film of suggestion. We're responsible for how the story ends.

After a wordless opening, we encounter a motley crew, some Irish but mostly American. They're being escorted, along with their few wagons, donkeys, horses and oxen, across the beautiful and baleful Oregon plains to a valley, where we assume they will settle. Their escort is Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), a loquacious, over-friendly cowboy, who has a tacit propensity for violence.

An etching by one of the band (prolific youngster Paul Dano) on a dead tree updates us on their progress: 'Lost' (something inhabitants never are in Westerns; their sense of geography is always mind-bogglingly good). They've been travelling for several days in the wrong direction and are in desperate need of water. Meek insists they will reach their destination soon.

Film factotum Kelly Reichardt, here director and editor, keeps us in the dark for much of the film. The camera pans back when there is conversation. What dialogue we do hear is muffled and limited (or incomprehensible when spoken by Meek). It's like we're eavesdropping and aren't supposed to know something.

A solitary Native American is spotted. His presence in these deathly quiet lands frightens the band. He is captured by Meek and Solomon Tetherow (Will Patton). Some argue that he will lead them to more Indians, so should be killed; but Solomon reasons that he can be used to lead them to water and their destination.

The band continues their voyage, taking 'The Indian' with them. Still nothing happens. Gradually, an ominous sense creeps in, made palpable by Jeff Grace's eerie score and Chris Blauvelt's atmospheric cinematography. (Both men have played second fiddle on big films, but show their competence as lead fiddlers here.) Suddenly the possibilities abound. Is that a smile 'The Indian' affects when one of the wagons is demolished? Does he plan to ambush them? Will the band ever reach the valley?

Apart from film students and die-hard Western fans, I can't tell who to recommend this critically acclaimed film to. I found the vistas beautiful to behold and I appreciated the tranquility. There's a faintly mystical quality. But I found it plodding and I can't forgive the ending, which I thought was criminally abrupt.

www.scottishreview.net

Kelly Reichardt's western 'Meek's Cutoff' is dour, unmelodramatic, realistic, claustrophobic, and ultimately unresolved. These qualities are (along with its striking use of the semi-desert of eastern Oregon) the film's strengths; but ultimately, also its weaknesses. While there's atmosphere, not a lot happens; and while the film is pleasingly un-glib, there's not too much characterisation either: the braggart explorer, the Puritan settlers, the mysterious native, none of the characters go far beyond stereotype, even if their micro-behaviour is impressively restrained and convincing. As a piece of recreated history, the film has merits: but as dramatic entertainment, it's sadly guilty of not even trying.

"Is he ignorant, or is he just plain evil?" Three families decide to start a new life in 1845 Oregon. They hire master guide Meek (Greenwood) to lead them along the Oregon Trail. When a shortcut turns out to become dangerous Emily (Williams) begins to openly question his abilities. This is one of the rare westerns that have been released in the last 10 years. A good one, almost a great one. While this movie does have it's slow moments the scenery and acting (an all star cast) more then make up for it. This is one of the independent movies that I talk about when i say that big budget movies that are crap get more publicity then the little ones that need it, and are 1,000,000 times better. This movie also has two of my favorite underrated actors in it, Bruce Greenwood (in an Oscar caliber role) and Will Patton. This is one great movie. Overall, not only one of the best westerns in the last 10 years, but one of the best movies period. Watch this, it's awesome. I give it an A-

Would I watch again? - Probably

Last year I was really surprised with the latest film of Niclas Winding Refn, Valhalla Rising, mainly because of how he was able to generate such a grand-scope epic with as minuscule a budget as he must've had. His production consisted basically of taking a group of actors, props and costumes into some stunning locations and start filming, just trying to capture the magnificence of those landscapes the best way they could. The result was somewhat awe-inspiring, a film that created some visions so epic that it made Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings look tiny and unimportant in comparison, almost like they had reversed budgets. in many ways, Meek's Cutoff does just that, although in turn it delivers a much, much better film as well.

The film is set during the travels through the Oregon Trail in 1845, where three families led by a contractual guide Stephen Meek get lost in the desert. Meek keeps saying they'll be there soon, but the route he promised took no more than two weeks to get through has already lasted for five, and they seemed nowhere close to the mountain pass they were aiming for. As he becomes more and more unreliable, and water starts running out, they come across a native, who they capture and want to force to have him lead them to water.

There are a couple of reasons why this reminds me of not only Valhalla Rising, but also Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath Of God before it. The most obvious connection between these films is that they all treat that notion of a group of people foreign to a particular land begin a journey through it and quickly lose their way, so much of the film we spend seeing them drift aimlessly through these landscapes, becoming more desperate about the growing shortage of food and water. Then, as I mentioned earlier, there's also the matter of the production scheme - Herzog did something similar when he made up these rafts and dressed a troupe of actors as conquistadores and went ahead and started telling his story. In the case of Meek's Cutoff, what we see throughout the entire film are a group of people, oxen and horses carrying a couple of wagons with them across some superbly shot arid landscapes, with the story needing only that to flesh out, but it is all so incredibly captured, so nicely treated from the sound and the atmosphere, that one can't help but be engulfed by what he's watching.

Much like Herzog and Winding Refn, though, what also makes this film work is that there is a constant sense of a metaphysical element working in the background. It is not just merely that these natural terrains hold an ancient charm to them, in a sense that you can almost imagine the world's history just by looking at them, but because all of these locations are heavily tinged by the native culture and beliefs, by their rituals and their own codes and languages. All throughout this journey, within each location one can notice several paintings on the rocks, carvings, and signs such as rocks piled up in an almost totemic fashion. This all becomes more apparent when the native character appears in the scene, and thus the protagonists are also forced to live with the culture and beliefs of this individual without being able to communicate with each other. There's an absolutely magnificent moment late in the film where a man falls down due to dehydration, and the native beings to spray sand on him and sing and everyone around him just looks. It's a sequence that reminded me a lot to that shot in Aguirre: The Wrath Of God where Aguirre is standing beside a man playing a traditional Andean melody on a panflute.

It's an absolutely wonderful film and I urge everyone to see it, a stunning meditation on the idea of the foreigner invading a land and culture he does not truly understand. The ending left me chills running down my spine.

I have many friends who don't like most of the high tech movies that involve car races, shoot um ups, special effects & overall fast pace.

well, here is a movie for you! Slow & easy it is You take a small group of travelers in 3 covered wagons & experience what it was like 150+ years ago for the folks who settled the rugged and undeveloped areas of our country.

Wandering travelers and dependent on a guide who is "lost" and then a captured Indian who is questionable in where he leads. No real communication with the language barrier.

It wasn't pretty. But they did not know much different and had the simpler life in every way imaginable. For those who long for the "good old days" I think this exemplifies that the nostalgic images lack reality At the end we don't know if the party survived, if a baby was born and lived, if the Indian took pity (if it was an ambush) on the brave woman who defended and protected him.

I can envision a sequel with the story narrated by the young boy in the party as an adult looking back. The photography is very rich and tells a story of its own. The music is bold and beautiful. The acting is very well done & well cast.

In a way I was disappointed after I saw it but then in reflection decided I was very amazed with what was conveyed and the real impact it had on me. Not a movie for everyone but a well done work of art