Squanto: A Warrior's Tale
by Xavier Koller
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DVD details
Actor: Adam Beach, Eric Schweig, Irene Bedard, Mandy Patinkin, Sheldon Peters WolfchildDirector: Xavier Koller
Brand: Walt Disney Video
Cinematographer: Robbie Greenberg
Editor: Gillian L. Hutshing
Editor: Lisa Day
Producer: Don Carmody
Producer: Kathryn F. Galan
Writer: Darlene Craviotto
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
Published: 2004-09-01
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product features:
- Get ready for nonstop action in this rousing tale of a Native American who defies incredible odds in his struggle for freedom! Squanto, a young warrior abducted from his homeland and enslaved must battle impossible hazards on a desperate journey home. Driven by a passion to be free, he risks everything to escape his captors, braving the wilderness and triumphing, finally, as a great leader. A vivi
DVD Reviews of Squanto: A Warrior's Tale
DVD Review: This Movie Has Too Much "Inspiration" and Too Little Accuracy
Summary: 2 Stars
The producers of this movie should have titled it, "Squanto: How We Would Have Scripted His Life." It took me a while to figure out fact from the fiction regarding Squanto's life. Unfortunately, this movie not only skipped the facts, it added confusion to them.
Let us begin with the facts. There was a Native American named Tisquantum, whom the Pilgrims called Squanto. Squanto was tricked into going to England in 1605. Squanto learned English during his stay in England. Eventually Squanto returned to North America, in 1614, with a pair of English ships. One of the two ships returned to England, leaving Squanto behind. The remaining English captain kidnapped Squanto and twenty-six other Native Americans and took them to Spain to sell them as slaves. Local friars in Spain discovered what was happening and took the Native Americans into custody with the intent of teaching them Christianity. In 1618, Squanto boarded a ship bound for Newfoundland.
In Newfoundland, Squanto was recognized and taken back to England. Squanto returned to North America in 1619 to aid in mapping the coast and in re-establishing trade with Native Americans. Squanto learned that disease had destroyed his village, so he moved in with a neighboring tribe. The following year the Pilgrims landed approximately at the site of Squanto's village. Squanto helped the Pilgrims survive by teaching them how to find native fish and how to fertilize crops.
Eventually, Squanto abused his influence over the Pilgrims and manipulated the local tribes. Massasoit, the local sachem, or high chief, asked the Pilgrims to turn Squanto over to him for execution. Either fortunately or unfortunately, an English ship arrived, distracting everyone. Before Massasoit could force the Pilgrims to turn Squanto over to Massasoit, he contracted a fever and died in 1622.
I think these are the basic facts of Squanto's life. There are some minor disagreements between sources, but most sources seem to generally agree on the details above.
The movie seems to have mixed and matched facts to make a faster-paced, completely fictional story. For example, we see Squanto kidnapped and taken to England, where he wrestles a bear. Squanto escapes and encounters friars, who teach him English. Squanto befriends a hawk, so we get a bit of mysticism in the story. In case you had yet to notice, mysticism and Native Americans sells movies.
Squanto tricks his way back into the New World. Squanto heads off to his village, only to find it gone. Squanto then wanders about in the woods until he encounters another tribe and Pilgrims, about ready to kill each other off. Fortunately, Squanto halts the bloodshed before it really gets started. There is an incident in the movie where the son of a sachem is shot and a Pilgrim doctor saves the child and everyone lives happily ever after; or, as the epilogue tells us at the end of the movie, everyone lives happily for two generations until they forget the lesson of Squanto.
Squanto was a real person. Squanto helped the Pilgrims. Without Squanto, the Pilgrims likely would have all died in their first year in the New World. Stick to those facts and you can hardly go wrong. The movie went well beyond those facts, with a reinterpretation of history that borders on the absurd. If you show your children this movie, warn them that this movie is completely fictional, except for the facts at the beginning of this paragraph. You may also pose a problem for slightly older children. Watch this movie and see how many historical errors you can find with library and internet research. This movie is a possible object lesson to teach children that they should question the garbage that can go into a "historically inspired" movie.
This movie does do one thing well, and that is its general portrayal of Native Americans. Much of what you see, minus the mysticism and some of the details, is relatively accurate. Many of the actors are Native Americans (at least they got THAT right). Had Disney used the same accuracy with the rest of the movie, they would have done fine.
I love movies that have high family values. I love historically inspired movies. However, this movie is beyond inspired and is a completely fictional version of a real human being's life. Why Disney felt they had to go this far is beyond me. Sure, Disney magnified and sanitized Davy Crockett's life, but at least Disney got the gist of Crockett's life correct and much of it was a bit tongue-in-cheek; Disney completely missed with Squanto. Do yourself and your family a favor and avoid this movie.
Description of Squanto: A Warrior's Tale
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: PG
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 102 minutes
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