Meek's Cutoff

The American West has been romanticized in film many times over, just as the American pioneers are often portrayed in pop culture as adventurous, courageous and filled with determination. 

“Meek’s Cutoff,” though slow and plodding, serves as a realistic portrayal of the arduous trek west.  Michelle Williams stars as the level-headed, but meek woman in a group of eight crossing the Oregon territory in 1845.  Led by Stephen Meek, a fur trapper and an explorer, the group forges through uncharted territory only to realize their guide is much less familiar with the land than he initially led on.  They go days without water, cross rocky and mountainous terrain in their wagons, and are under constant fear of being attacked by Indians.  Eventually, they are forced to follow that fear in the form of a captured Cayuse Indian, who they hope might lead them to water.

Though the setting of the film is beautiful at first, it’s much less grand than Monument Valley or the Arkansas Plain.  The tension increases gradually as the travelers’ circumstance become more dire.  Overall “Meek’s Cutoff” is a very quiet film with no major plot twists or turns, until the uncertain and unsettling ending.