ABSTRACT
Based on true events in the history of the Oregon Trail, Kelly Reichardt’s fourth feature, Meek’s Cutoff (United States, 2010), is a story of survival, endurance and trust. Set in 1845, it is a period piece that tells the difficult journey of immigrants in search of homesteads. Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) convinces a group of pioneers to take a supposedly safer and shorter route through the Oregon desert and the audience joins the caravan just as the travellers realise they are lost. When Meek and Solomon Tetherow (Will Paton) capture a Cayuse tribesman (Rob Rondeaux), it is Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams) who ultimately assumes leadership, confronts Meek and establishes trust in their Cayuse guide.
