US 2010, D, E Kelly Reichardt, SC Jonathan Raymond, C Christopher Blauvelt, M Jeff Grace, S Leslie Shatz, P Elizabeth Cuthrell, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, David Urrutia, Evenstar Films, Film Science, Harmony Productions, Primitive Nerd, Cast Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson, Neal Huff, Tommy Nelson, Print colour, 35mm, 104 Min, engl. OV with german SUB, Peripher Filmverleih

USA, 1845: A small travelling party consisting of three settler families hires trapper Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) to guide them to Oregon. Claiming he knows a shortcut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked trail across the high plains, where they lose their way in the rocky wasteland. Their water supply running perilously low, the settlers begin to distrust Meek, none more so than pioneer wife Emily (Michelle Williams).

„The fact that Reichardt’s first historical film is a western, and thus an entry into a traditionally male-dominated genre, is a testament to the filmmaker’s artistic self-assuredness. At the same time, it demonstrates emphatically that the allegorical potential of the genre can be readily made to bear fruit for the present. For we are dealing here not only with the overdue incorporation of a female perspective – it is also about the politics of reaching decisions. It’s about speaking up when one realises that the path embarked upon is the wrong track.“ (Alexandra Seitz, Xenix-Kino, 2011)