Meek’s Cutoff made quite an impression at the Venice Festival last fall. Directed by Kelly Reichardt, the movie includes Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan.

The story takes place in 1845 during the earliest days of the Oregon Trail. A wagon team of three families has hired the mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains. Claiming to know a short cut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage.

Over the coming days, the emigrants must face the scourges of hunger, thirst, and their own lack of faith in each other’s instincts for survival. When a Native American wanderer crosses their path, the emigrants are torn between their trust in a guide who has proven himself unreliable and a man who has always been seen as the natural enemy.

I want to see the trailer! The movie opens in theaters March 8, 2011.