Movie Review : Meek's Cutoff

Yesterday, I watched this movie in fascination from beginning to end. Although based on an actual historical incident, this film is neither a Western action adventure nor a documentary. In my subjective interpretation, it is an allegory for the human struggle to find meaning in our lives completely based on "arriving at our destination", particularly when we should be sharply focusing on the journey and our fellow travelers. So I believe this is not a film for the average man or woman but for the people who intuitively understand the cinematic language of 2001, a Space Odyssey, then this movie will appeal to them.

I enjoyed immensely every aspect of this movie from the "ambient" soundtrack that reminded me of the atmospheres of Brian Eno's ' Music for airports'; the lack of dialogue for many minutes, which mildly forces the viewer to use their brain to understand what they are seeing; the beautiful and forbidding quasi-static shots of the skies which anyone who has been at the sea knows how the sky often dominates; the slow pacing of the editing; the archetypal focus on three women; the long journey with an uncertain end as a metaphor for life; to  the barely-heard off-camera dialogue which realistically shows how insubstantial the settlers are in nature.

Some might find Meek’s Cutoff too austere due to an arresting and restrained stillness of the screen. However for me, few films have captured so authentically the flavour of the painful conquering of the American West. I wonder what is not to like about Meek's Cut-off if one is a free and deep thinker?