MEEK’S CUTOFF

“We’re not lost. We’re just finding our way.”

— Stephen Meek, “Meek’s Cutoff”

Meek’s Cutoff is a 2010 western by Kelly Reichardt, an acclaimed independent director. The film was co-writen by Reichardt and a novelist Jonathan Raymond. The action takes place somewhere on the Oregon Trail in 1845 with a group of settlers desperately trying to find their way in the eerie and inhospitable northwestern landscape guided by the eponymous Meek.

Reichardt’s characters are outsiders in many respects. The three families are given no background, we do not know where they come from, what pushed them to come west. However, little glimpses of their old lives: a caged bird, a clock inherited from a deceased relative provide a sense of displacement and utter incongruity. Furthermore, women are outsiders in the sense that they are completely excluded from decision making. Scenes where all three of them are trying to read body language and eavesdrop on the men debating the course of action from the distance are frequent. Lastly, there is an Indian. The feared other who for the characters (Meek incites hatred with stories of Indian atrocities) epitomizes the savage heathen, murderer deserving to be killed.

I mention this film and the issue of the outsider/other as I find its treatment of the woman and the Indian characters interesting, especially in light of a role-twist in conclusion of the film.

According to the Washington Post critic, Ann Hornaday

“The director Kelly Reichardt deconstructs, de-mythologizes and thoroughly redefines the American western with Meek’s Cutoff, a mesmerizing cinematic journey that is often as arduous and spare as the lives of its hard-bitten protagonists.”

I believe that some of this redefining happens in the way that the film shifts from the traditional narrative structure (the axis of activity and passivity according to feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey) where the male character is the active one, the agent of dramatic action and the female (or in this case other/the Indian) is the passive, powerless one. As the events unfold and the bleak prospect of death from dehydration becomes obvious Emilly (Michelle Williams) remains  level-headed and openly confronts Meek (there is a firearm involved to support her argument) and saves the captured Indian’s life. As a consequence of her decision group’s survival is entirely in the hands of the Indian. Which is an interesting way of concluding the film with the character assumed to have neither power nor humanity (as believed by the white setters) wielding  control over his captors’ lives and leading them through a barren land. (I wonder if anyone else has got Moses association here)

While the film is slow paced and has little dialogues, which might deter some people, I recommend watching it. Bare landscapes and minimalist aesthetics of Meek’s Cutoff result in a haunting viewing experience.

On a side note, while googling books on film theory that might be useful in my research I have come across a book that immediately made me think of Magda’s B.A.

"This is a seminal study of how Native Americans have been portrayed in film since the start of the film industry in this country. . . . This is much more than a book for film buffs; it's about how stereotypes of Native Americans were created. As the book treats the evolution of film images of Native Americans, the reader may begin to appreciate it as a history of how white people have dealt with Native Americans, including how they have created popular stereotypes of them. . . . An elegantly thoughtful book."—Kliatt