Too much of everything

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Granted, there is controversy about what happened between the Pilgrims from the Mayflower and the local Native Americans. As the Ojibwa say, "there are two sides to every story, and then there's the truth."What this two-part series demonstrates is that it's not just the clash of cultures that creates tension: it's the political strife within cultures. Saints & Strangers brings these tensions, misunderstandings and conflicts to the forefront to make what we've all told is a simple story the more true reality of how complex the interactions actually were.Attention to historical detail, including in costume design and makeup, is impeccable. The use of what would have been the language of the Native Americans (barely preserved by the dialect coach from people he knew because he didn't want to see the language die) is a side benefit of the enterprise and makes the portrayals of the main Native American roles not only believable, but compelling. Dialog between key characters illuminates the realization of the difficult enterprise resulting from arriving in an unknown place. Freedom from cultural restraints is replaced by awareness that no matter where we are, there are always social constraints.This project must become a classic. It reveals that our sentimental notions about Thanksgiving don't reveal the truth. European settlement on this continent wasn't what anyone thought it would be -- neither the Europeans nor the Native Americans who had to navigate how to interact with each other, whether to trust each other, and what to learn from one another.Saints & Strangers is both an homage to the people who came together, under trying circumstances, as well as a cautionary tale. It paints clearly that there is no "good" or "bad" side: that politics, no matter our skin color, always attempts to cloud our judgment. In the end, it also shows that no matter who we are, or from where we have come, we are ultimately all cut from the same cloth.Isabeau Vollhardt, author, The Casebook of Elisha Grey e-book series

Its very rare to see a show where every single character is just so unlikeable.Only reason I'm giving it 2 stars instead of one is Ray Stevenson. There, guy is worth a full star on his own. Loved him in Rome.We are talking 3 hours of nonstop nonsense about God until I have urge to go find this God and torture him, than slay him. I found it utterly impossible to enjoy bad accents, badly written story, horrible camera work, its like people filming this never did anything else.Every single shot is off. Its never centered closeup. Its always either wobbly camera, or closeup is weirdly partial with guy aiming somewhere mid chest filming face from eyes down. Its just ... really weird.Maybe this could have been decent if better person wrote it, directed it and ... yeah, its just garbage.

"Saints and Strangers" recounts the story of the voyage of the Mayflower and the early settlement at Plymouth. The miniseries aired on the National Geographic Channel and is now available in the DVD format.As opposed to a film documentary, the approach is a dramatization in the form of a miniseries. The title derives from the main theme of the drama, which concerns the two groups of immigrants: the devout pilgrims and those who came to America for mercenary reasons. But the film avoids a melodramatic, cut-and-dry approach to the characters. The strength of the series is that it paints a far more complex picture of the immigrants, as well as the Native Americans with whom the settlers came into contact.One of key roles is that of the historical figure of Stephen Hopkins. At one of the turning points in the drama, Hopkins confesses to his wife that the situation in America is not black-and-white, but falls withing a "grey" area. The same realization comes to the group's governor, William Bradford, whose piety is tested by the struggle to survive. Another multidimensional role is that of the Native American named Squanto, who on the surface is sympathetic to the foreigners, but underneath has a seething rage due to his personal losses of family and tribe. The filmmakers discovered ambiguity in a set of roles that could have been bland stereotypes.The film is beautifully photographed and includes a fine ensemble cast. There is also a helpful website on the National Geographic Channel's home page that includes a "who's who" list and description of the main historical characters.Overall, this film was definitely a cut above the average television miniseries. There was some thought that went into the teleplay, and the production values were closer to those of a feature film than a cable TV series.

Saints and Strangers does a pretty good job of telling the story of the early encounters between New England's pilgrim settlers and their Native American hosts/antagonists. I felt the story portrayed a balanced (accuracy is debatable) view of the plight of both groups. The constant cultural dilemmas, physical dangers, and shifting alliances made for a good night of television. There's obviously a lot of history to fit into 2 episodes so hopefully this will return as a full series. One interesting note: when I read through the cast of characters, I was surprised to see Ron Livingston (of Office Space fame) listed as portraying John Carver? I totally missed him...I'll have to pay closer attention when I watch it again.