Truly Dreadful Film

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

A Brilliant Conflict

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

First the good news. The sets and scenery are absolutely top notch. Much of it was shot outdoors in woodland areas, caves, waterfalls, etc. The exteriors and interiors of the cabins, fort etc. are quite realistic. It seems to be very authentic.The story was excellent. It was fascinating and based on real events involving real people. I found it interesting and compelling from start to finish. The music was great.Now for the not so good news. Unfortunately the acting was somewhat spotty. A few actors did a decent enough job however many, too many, appeared to be amateurs on their first job. The lead actress is, in my opinion, just way too beautiful.

A worthy effort for a low-budget movie from a Christian production company. It's a bit uneven at times in terms of dialogue and performances. It is visually pleasing, and held our interest. My wife loved it. It has something of the flavor of Last of the Mohicans, but not as professionally executed. The latter portion seems a bit anti-climactic until the very end, which is moving. As something of a history buff, I've read quite a bit about this fascinating period in colonial history. Things are portrayed a little simplistically, of course, as almost all movies do. While I cannot speak to the details of Native American culture portrayed in the film, it certainly softens the barbarity of these tribes against their enemies, and especially captives. Burning people is about as cruel as they get in the film, but reality could be much, much worse than that. Torture was something of a form of entertainment then. The film portrays the Delaware as real people, however. Some more inclined to brutality than others. Their chief is presented as a wise leader. Almost all the English government officials are portrayed as fools, especially in scenes with the founders (Col. Washington and Dr.Franklin make brief appearances). Not a great film, but for what it is and what it cost, it succeeds rather well. Families should enjoy it.

This just wasn't a very good movie. I watched a screening copy (with a friend from an appropriate guild) on a whim, and being a bit of a history buff, some movies people find to slow I still like. This wasn't one of them. It claims to be based on a true story (which it may VERY LOOSELY be), but the historical inaccuracies were rampant in nearly every scene. I'm actually surprised it was shot in Williamsburg, VA, because they clearly didn't hire a knowledgeable technical adviser. It also portrayed the indigenous Americans with a pretty racist slant. Additionally, there were a number of quality issues with the film. There was inconsistent depth of field throughout the film, making it look like something shot on Best Buy camera with a stock zoom lens. The color was off from shot to shot. The audio didn't sound feature quality and seemed like they relied on the score to cover up audio imperfections. The acting was very poor (with the exception of Mama- Joanie Stewart was good). It was either no feeling or EVERY FEELING EVER ALL AT ONCE!!! The dialogue was poor and the sisters' bond to each other and god kind of felt like it was a given, with no motives or honesty, just blind faith because Daddy told them so. It's almost a jaded rip off of An American Tale, except without any of the adventure or feeling (or cute animated mice). I was able to make it all the way through, but was left feeling empty and bored, rather than inspired and uplifted. There may be an audience for it, but I'm not sure who. It's really just a poor presentation of lower budget filmmaking. 3/10

I watched this film solely for the reason that it was nominated for an academy award and I had never heard of it. What this movie turned out to be was a racist ultra conservative fever dream of this time period only the acting was on par with a middle school play with about one day of preparation. I later learned that the reason that it was nominated was due to corruption in the voting process but I only hope to warn people that started with the same idea that I had, do not watch this movie it's not even laughably bad it's just painful. Also the original song isn't even that good compared to what it beat out, it's just a hymn