Meek's Cutoff (1:44) 2010

Meek's Cutoff is a rather dully told story about an exciting and interesting period in American history. Meek is Stephen Meek, played very convincingly by Bruce Greenwood, a wagon train guide in the earliest days (1845) of the Oregon Trail. Meek is a real person who made a decision to lead Western expansion pioneers away from a well known trail and take a shortcut across the high desert in Oregon. The group he led quickly became lost among the rough and barren landscape. Many travelers were stranded, became ill and died on this journey. This film fictionalizes this event as Meek leads three families as they branch off from the wagon train at the place currently known as Meek's Cutoff (near the Cascade Mountains). The movie follows the travelers as they painfully  inch their way through the desert. This small group loses trust in Meek when they realize they are lost with no water source in sight. Meek captures a local Native American man who is also distrusted, but at the same time, seen as their only hope in leading them safely to the Columbia River. A big complication is that the Native American only speaks his native language and does not understand English. Most of the story shows the pioneers walking across the landscape, going to sleep,  waking up and repeating another long day of walking in the search of water. The film's first seven minutes is without dialogue, there is almost no background music. The dialogue throughout the movie is subdued and limited to functional language. On a positive note, there is great detail paid to the costumes, the wagons and the supplies. The Native American speaks only the authentic Nez Perce language. This is definitely a film  for American History teachers, students and devotees but most likely not for the average moviegoer.