Movie Analysis Essay on Meek's Cutoff

Introduction

The American Film Meek's Cutoff, directed by Kelly Reichardt, covers the experiences of three pioneer families during the earliest days of the Oregon Trail. The cast of this movie consists of Tommy Nelson, Michelle Williams, Shirley Henderson, and Bruce Greenwood, to mention a few. The storyline of Meek's Cutoff is centered on a small band of the 19th-century travelers, whom the director portrayed as helpless and hopelessly lost along the desolate Oregon Trail. In the first scenes of the film, the wayward families travel mostly on food with oxen pulling wagons containing precious barrels of water. These emigrants hired Meek to guide them through the shortcut, only to become lost in the vast desert. A few days later, the wagon train faced the scorches of thirst and hunger, and that is when they started to question Meek's leading abilities. The travelers captured a Native American wanderer hoping that he would be their guide if they kept him as a prisoner. Later, the three families were torn between trusting the Indian wanderer or Meek to lead them to water points. Through the guidance of the captive, the travelers ultimately crossed the desert, and they were all happy when they saw a tree on the landscape. The journey reflects the hardships of the pioneer families in the United States.

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Sound and Music

Meek's Cutoff uses music sparingly, and there is a near absence of non-diegetic sounds in the scenes. Throughout this film, one can hear about twelve non-literal sounds, which are also called non-diegetic. An example of non-literal sounds in Meeks Cutoff, to be specific, is a dark and eerie loop. This soundtrack plays in almost every instance, where Tetherow encounter or thinks about Rob Bordeaux, the Indian. The only other part that used non-diegetic sounds is the invitation or the opening scene where one can hear sounds like strings on a guitar. This non-literal sound reinforces the invitation to the film and a rusty fence gate opening slowly.

In my analysis, I found that the movie extensively used diegetic sounds. Two minutes or so after the start of the film is entirely wordless with no non-diegetic sounds, contrary to most American Western films. Even before one can see the first motion picture of Meeks Cutoff, you can hear diegetic sounds of a wagon and a man leading two oxen. As the pioneer families grimly trudge, you can listen to a repeated whine of the wagon wheels as long stretches go.

The sound of wind roaring across the plains, in some instances, is audible than the stretches of the travelers. These object sounds are essential to Meeks Cutoff as it makes the film more realistic. For example, the audience is supposed to hear the crunching footsteps as travelers walk in the desert. The raring of wind, as well, give the audience the natural ambiance of the desert, and it makes the movie realistic. Another diegetic feature is the dialogue, although it is barely heard over the sounds of wagons when the emigrants were lost in the mountainous desert.

Camera Techniques and Framing

Many of Reichardt's shots in Meek's Cutoff are stationary. The moving camera, as well, creates artistic effects and can reveal the off-screen space. Throughout the journey of pioneer families, the camera is moving, and it follows the steady progress of the wagon train. To me, the use of the image reinforce a theme or convey an idea to the audience that the pioneer families are prisoners in an open country. It is no doubt that the image that displays in the introductory scene is a slow sideways pan of the camera accompanying wagons crossing the river.

While the opening image is slow by commercial standards, the effects on Meek's Cutoff is not an exaggerated one. The oxen leading the wagon at the start of the shot, notably, are framed center-screen, whereas the cart is to the right. Besides, the pan held the framing less or more steadily as the wagon moves forward. These scenes, and techniques, in general, shows that the director and the editor, Kelly Reichardt, relied on both mid and long shots more than is typical to the present-day or modern mainstream style.

One of the stationary shots shows wagons exiting at the bottom of the frame, and at the same time, a set of cars looms in the distance. It takes a moment to realize that the top of the frame shows the same wagons coming to a new location. From this technique, one can note that the editor of Meek's Cutoff, who is also the director of this film, used an extremely slow dissolve. The editing and cinematography of this American movie also paint the landscape of the film scenes as sites of uncertain perspectives and shifting borders.

Art-Cinema vs. Genre Films

Meek's Cutoff is a Western art-film. The movie dwells on the experiences of women on Oregon Trail. With this feature, Meek's Cutoff has a minimal story that revolves around abstract themes, including the role of women. The core functions of these women were cooking, packing, and unpacking. However, female travelers did not have a say on many issues despite being hopelessly lost. In other words, women in the Oregon Train did not participate in making critical decisions together with their men. I have also noted that when violence comes in unknown terrains, it is visceral, swift, and blind to gender.

In this film also, Reichardt embraced the genre norms of the Western. One of them is the sentimental psychology about hypermasculine romance. Emily, for example, maybe was a strong and brave woman, but she could not show her potentials and ability because of the societal norms. When Emily offered a drink to an Indian and helped him sew a torn leather shoes, it could be because she wanted to show solidarity to a man who had been under oppression for so long. Also, the act could be a show of love for the Indian man.

The fact that Meek's Cutoff brings to light historical instances that date back to the Oregon Trail and the experiences in the Old West at that time shows that it is an art-film. Moreover, the director's feminist leanings and portrayal of women as less being describe the vital features of art-films. The lethal ties that bind the Indian wanderer, Meek, and Emily, in my understanding, convey powerful echoes of the present-day's cultural and political war in American societies. Besides, Meek's Cutoff has sparse dialogue among the characters since narrations dominate most of the scenes. This aspect is a vital feature of art-cinema.

The aspect of ambient sounds, as mentioned earlier, dominates the film. Meek's Cutoff uses a lot of diegetic features. Some of them are the sounds of the fence gate opening, background noise in different scenes, the sound of wagons and oxen moving in the desert. The existence of such ambient sounds indicates that Meek's Cutoff is of art-cinema.

Bibliography

Reichardt, Kelly, dr. Meek's Cutoff. 2010; Boston, MS: Harmony Productions, 2011. Online https://tubitv.com/movies/513834/meeks_cutoff.