EGP nudges higher vs. USD in early Thursday trading    Global electricity demand to surge through 2026 – IEA    Japan's c. bank holds key interest rate    Egypt, US FMs discuss Gaza crisis, Nile water security    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt exports first high-tech potato seeds to Uzbekistan after opening market    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Sudan's ambassador to Egypt holds reconstruction talks on with Arab League    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi sends letter to Nigerian president affirming strategic ties    Egypt, Senegal sign pharma MoU to unify regulatory standards    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



'Meek's Cutoff' shows women's view of West
Published in Daily News Egypt on 06 - 09 - 2010

Lost wandering in the Oregon desert for five weeks when the journey should have taken two, low on water, food and patience, a young emigrant played by Michelle Williams says of the group's ego-driven guide: "Is he ignorant, or just plain evil? That's my quandary."
Williams' character, Emily Tetherow, was talking about Stephen Meek, a real-life mountain man who led 200 wagons into the Oregon desert in 1845 claiming to know a shortcut through the Cascade Mountains, and ended up instead in an area without water. He is a central figure in the new movie "Meek's Cutoff," which premiered Sunday at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion.
Though the story is historical in nature, filmmaker Kelly Reichardt said she and the scriptwriter saw more modern references when they started the project right around the time that photos were emerging of soldiers posing with Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
"Just following a leader who doesn't know what he's doing, who's maybe either ignorant or stupid. You are not really sure what his motives are," Reichardt told reporters. "And needing information from someone who's completely culturally different, and whose culture you don't trust."
Though that central question expresses the tension in the movie — and may ring true to many viewers in spheres other than political — the movie itself is a spare tale of a journey gone awry and not a political treatise. Low on action, but rich in drama, it is by no means a typical Western.
In the film, three couples have broken away from the main wagon train to try their luck with Meek. Tension arises as the families try to decide whether to continue to take Meek's advice or if they should trust a Native American wanderer who crosses their path.
The movie is told from the women's point of view, drawn from diaries kept by Western-bound pioneers, and its beauty is in the details: A frontier littered with heirlooms, a broken mirror tossed from a wagon and abandoned, all suggesting hardship as emigrants unsentimentally lighten the load.
"I figure the historical truths may reveal themselves in the minutiae, in the every day labor. That is what the women's diaries reveal. It was really monotonous and it was really lonely," Reichardt said. "The journals start out very romantic about the journey, and in the end it's: 'built two fires, washed clothes, cooked beans.'"
"Meek's Cutoff" is the second of Reichardt's films in which Williams appears, following "Wendy and Lucy" in 2009. The actress was in Venice for the red carpet premiere later Sunday but didn't attend the press conference.
"I love working with Michelle. She is very game for the kind of films we are making. They are really hard and there are no comforts at all," the director said.
The actors did a week of pioneer camp before shooting, in the area near Bend, Oregon where Meek's wagon train was lost and which Reichardt said had changed little from pioneer days. They learned how to make fires without matches, discussed what families would have taken with them out West based on their status and worked with the animals, including teams of oxen that drew the wagons.
"I am a big fan of Westerns, of Nicholas Ray and Monte Hellman and Anthony Mann, and I love the way those films are sort of styled and shot, and the use of landscape. But a lot of the themes are completely unrelatable to me," Reichardt said.
Shifting the story to the women's point of view changed the themes.
"It's really about labor and space and stillness. So my challenge was to find how the stillness could act in a dramatic way." Reichardt said.
The film tries to avoid clichés about Native Americans while examining the settlers' mistrust in the stranger. The part is played by Rod Rondeaux, an actor and stuntman who learned the Nez Perce language for the role, although none of his dialogue is translated, leaving the audience, along with the emigrants, to try to interpret what he is saying.
"The thing of avoiding clichés is really hard," Reichardt said. "I mean as soon as you are putting a Native American in front of a blue sky with a bare chest and beads on, you start to have a heart attack. 'Oh, my. What am I doing? At the same time, you don't want to avoid it. The story is told from the point of view of white immigrants."


Clic here to read the story from its source.