Those of us of a certain age remember playing the game “The Oregon Trail.” The educational software aimed to teach students about settlers who moved westward in the 19th century. Children growing up at the end of the 20th century couldn’t even imagine the hardships suffered by those in the last one — nor the difficult choices they faced. Kelly Reichardt’s spare “Meek’s Cutoff” is a keenly felt film that illustrates both.
The movie is based on real events, but the 200-wagon caravan of history is replaced by a trio of families here, making the drama more intimate, but no less a potential tragedy.
| On screen |
| ‘Meek’s Cutoff’ |
| 4 out of 5 stars |
| Stars: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson |
| Director: Kelly Reichardt |
| Rated PG for some mild violent content, brief language and smoking |
| Running time: 104 minutes |
Making their slow way through Oregon in 1845, they’ve all but forgotten the reason they’re going. “The land you’re heading for is a second Eden. You want riches,” Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) says, “you just plunge your hand into the ground.”
But the people he’s leading have been left hoping for nothing but survival. What was meant to be a two-week journey has turned into five, with no end in sight. The settlers realize they’re lost, though their rough guide refuses to admit it. “Is he ignorant? Or just plain evil?” Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams) asks, disgusted no matter the answer. Could he have been hired to chase away would-be immigrants? Just when it seems the settlers might take action, a new dilemma appears: They catch an Indian and are split on whether to kill him or demand he lead them to water.
Reichardt, who previously directed Williams in “Wendy and Lucy,” shows us with great subtlety the physical and emotional drama here, one that’s properly underplayed, given the strictures of the time. Simply by watching the women, left to hold the reins of the animals while the men make decisions, a whole world is re-created. Williams is a standout as a steel-willed new bride, and Shirley Henderson, a much-underused Scottish actress, communicates with her through a masterful use of her eyes.
“You can’t even imagine what we’ve done. Cities we’ve built,” Emily tells the Indian. But they’re a long way from Rome, Paris, London and New York — and civilization itself, it sometimes seems.
