Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
Directed by: Kelly Reichardt
A party of settlers (six adults, one child, assorted livestock) take their wagons across 1840s Oregon, led by their eponymous guide, Stephen Meek. We first see them making their way across a river, and this seems like a hardship – the three women are shown wading waist-deep through the water, with bundles held precariously on their heads. But this is the last time they see fresh water in this movie and, as one type of barren landscape gives way to another, we recall the river as a cool, live-giving dream. Read more
