Meek's Cutoff

Directed by: Kelly Reichardt

Written by: Jonathan Raymond

This movie came with a lot of critical acclaim, and so I had very high expectations. Luckily, it delivered.

Essentially, it's about a group of people who get lost on their way to the Oregon Territory. They begin to lose faith in the man they've hired to guide them. Tensions rise as water and supplies begin to dwindle and as it becomes clear that a stranger is stalking them.

"Meek's Cutoff" had just about everything that, I feel, makes a movie good. Simultaneously, some of these features can be rather off-putting for viewers who are unprepared for the daunting journey they are about to take.

For example: the film does not rely on dialogue to tell the story. In fact, there is basically no dialogue for the first ten minutes. There's an old writing class tip: "Show, don't tell." This film masterfully shows what is going on, without directly telling the audience. (At some points, that "show" borders on "tell" though - such as when in an early scene when one of the travelers carves "LOST" onto a dead tree branch.)

I appreciate some of the stylistic choices that were used in the film as well. Whispers are actually hard to hear - as whispers should be. When a conversation is being held far away, the audience can only hear it muted over the distance. We can hear the tone of the discussion, but not all the words. But, going back to the "show, don't tell" bit, we don't actually need to hear everything. We can extrapolate what is going on through what is given to us.

The plot itself is pretty basic, and only has one or two significant twists. What makes the story interesting, then, is the way the situation changes and how those changes affect the power dynamics between the characters. When faced with different challenges, each character's true nature is revealed. "Meek's Cutoff" shows that well-defined characters can super-charge a simple plot. Each actor did a great job, but special credit should be given to Bruce Greenwood who, as Stephen Meek, was not recognizable as anyone but Stephen Meek. The limited size of the cast, and their constant proximity to one another, gives the film an astounding feeling of claustrophobia despite the wide-open setting.

(There are sneaky spoilers hidden in this paragraph: so beware.) Lastly, the ending is absolutely ambiguous (and I've written previously how much I love that kind of ending). The travelers are no longer in control of their own destiny, but where the captured Indian is leading them - to safety, or to certain death - is uncertain. There's enough evidence provided to suggest either is a realistic possibility. The tree suggests that water is nearby, but it is still nowhere in sight. Salvation could be over the next hill, but that's been the feeling for the last several hills. As the film ends, there's an irony in the three families who set out West to forge their own futures not being in control of their own fates.

The weakness of the film is the slow, deliberate pace of the story, mainly because at one point it borders on tedium. Minimal action is fine, but there needs to be some forward movement occasionally or the energy dies out, which it almost does in this film.

I highly recommend this film. Be prepared, though, that it is not a typical movie. Go in with an open mind and you will be amazed.