Essential Killing & Meek's Cutoff

Venice (In Competition) – Two films about a struggle for survival in a harsh environment put their characters to the ultimate test. How much can they endure and what will they sacrifice to survive? Emma Rowley takes a look at Essential Killing and Meek's Cutoff.

Essential Killing is a stripped-down narrative that races by in 83 minutes. In the desert of Afghanistan, a man fires a rocket launcher that kills two American contractors and a soldier. Was he acting out of fear? In self-defence? In retaliation? Is he an extremist or madman?

He is brutally processed by the American military. Ears ringing from the retaliatory fire, he is interrogated and shackled, shaved and hooded. He is intimidated by dogs and waterboarded. Finally, he is bundled onto a plane and then into a van. The sequence of events is dehumanising and pitiless. Wherever he is being taken, he may never return.

But his transport crashes and he breaks free. Outside of the van, it is night, snowy, freezing. He is shoeless and cannot survive in such a state. He returns to the convoy and kills a driver, steals his boots. He makes off through the woods with men and dogs in pursuit.

It is hard not to get caught up in Mohammed's struggle for survival as he evades his would-be captors. His desperation is palpable. But as the film continues, it is equally impossible not to feel a growing distance from the man and his actions. The main narrative is divided by short flashbacks that are little more than images, wordless but for exhortations from the Qu'ran that state that god's plans for the faithful may not be what they want for themselves. That they may even find their path abhorrent.

In one flashback, there is a beautiful young woman with a baby in her arms, perhaps his wife and child. Later, in the present day, he encounters a Polish mother nursing her infant in the snow. Starving, he bears down on her and suckles violently on her free breast, against her horrified protests. It is clear that whatever principles may have led him to this place, they are lost to him now, or nullified by his own actions since. He is a void, an anti-hero. Gallo's silent, wild-eyed performance is ideal as the man lost in an alien environment.

But while the tale is certainly gripping, the series of contrivance that sees him escaping and evading the soldiers is at times too much like the big-budget Harrison Ford thriller, The Fugitive. But Jerzy Skolimowski's film is vividly realised, with starkly powerful cinematography and a tendency to confront unpleasantness without flinching.

In making this film, Skolimowski was inspired by the rumours of a CIA black sites in Europe, and presents the American military complex as an instrument of terror. The contractors in the first scene are presented as conceitedly unaware of what is at stake. One smokes heroin from a piece of foil. Both amble along, joking. This dual portrait of the USA – its entitled and unthinking citizens protected by a merciless machine – is devastating. But the presentation of Mohammed himself is no less so.

Rating on a scale of 5 ants eaten to ward off starvation: 3.5

Meek's Cutoff presents a more hopeful and enigmatic view of people at the mercy of their environment and each other. It opens in Oregon in 1845. Three pioneer couples have broken from their party and hired a guide, Stephen Meek (an excellent but near-unrecognisable Bruce Greenwood), to take them west on the Oregon trail to a new home. But after days in the uninhabitable plains, with supplies running low, they begin to question their decision to entrust him with their lives. An ambiguous character, his confidence could stem from his knowledge of the land or prove to be empty bravado. His estimate of their journey time is vague and while he seems relaxed, entertaining the lone child in the group with tall tales, everyone else's unease is increasing. No one can decide on a course of action until a further complication arises that compels each one to take a position. Meek and one of the pioneers, Solomon Tetheroe, capture a Cayuse Indian.

The unnamed man acts as a Rorschach test for the group. What they see in him is not who he is but how each one of them perceives the world. Meek is all for killing him, insisting that the Cayuse are hated even among other Indians as slave traders and liars but Tetheroe insists they bring him back to the group as he can perhaps be persuaded to help them find water. Meek's plan is to beat him into submission; Thomas Gately (Paul Dano) insists that trading is the solution; and Emily Tetheroe (an impressive Michelle Williams) tries communicating through acts of kindness.

The result is a fascinating character analysis as each person attempts to decide whether if it is the Cayuse or Meek they should trust, or if they are simply doomed. The Cayuse himself (played by Rod Rondeaux) is a mysterious figure, at some points appearing sympathetic, at others – such as when the group squanders the last of their water in a wagon accident and he seems to smile slightly – unsurprisingly hostile, considering they have bound and threatened him.

The small cast delivers fine performances, but it is Michelle Williams who is once again outstanding as the pioneer woman whose bravery and humanity slowly come to affect the rest of the group. Kelly Reichardt's direction is unhurried, presenting the harddships of the trail in long, wide shots. One particularly effective fade make it appear that the pioneers are walking across the sky.

The ending may disappoint some but Stephen Meek was a historical figure, a fur trapper and guide. A quick glance at a biography of the man may clear up some of the ambiguities of the film's conclusion.

Rating on a scale of 5 unreadable stone signs: 4

Site users in the UK and Australia can watch a previous Skolimowski film, The Shout, a drama/horror hybrid free here on IndieMovies. It's about a married couple who invite a stranger into their home, who demonstrates uncanny powers as he seduces the wife and threatens the husband with a shout that he claims can kill.

UK users can also watch Kelly Reichardt's 2006 drama Old Joy. Here's its synopsis: Two long-time friends reunite and venture into the mountains near Portland, Oregon. Old Joy is an elegiac reflection on change; both personal and societal. Featuring a revelatory performance from Will Oldham, aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and an original score from indie veterans Yo La Tengo. 

Essential Killing
Release date: TBC
Directed by: Jerzy Skolimowski
Screenplay by: Jerzy and Eva Skolimowski
Cast: Vincent Gallo, Emmanuelle Seigneur, Stig Frode Henriksen, Nikolai Clever Broch
Rating: TBC
Running time: 83 minutes

Meek's Cutoff
Release date: TBC
Directed by: Kelly Reichardt
Cast: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson, Zoe Kazan, Will Patton, Rod Rondeaux
Rating: TBC
Running time: 104 minutes
 
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