Unlike "Plymouth Adventure," a 1952 MGM movie that focuses on the voyage of the Mayflower and features special effects, big-name actors portraying well dressed, beardless men and well washed women engaged in a partly fictitious plot, Saints and Strangers presents less prominent actors as bearded men and poorly clothed and groomed women coping with the extreme challenge of founding a colony in the wilderness.
For the most part, this mini-series, which devotes 20 minutes to the voyage, and nearly three hours to the first few years of Plymouth colony, adheres to actual historical events. Aboard the Mayflower, we see the birth of Oceanus Hopkins, the storm, the ship's broken beam, and John Howland being washed overboard. We see the settlers, in their first onshore explorations, finding skeletons, buried Indian corn, and the site of former Indian village on which they construct Plymouth. The film shows Samoset appearing and greeting them in English, Squanto teaching them how to plant crops, and the settlers negotiating a mutual assistance treaty with Massasoit, and Hobomok's wife being sent to investigate Squanto's warning that Massasoit intended to attack the colony, and finding that no attack was planned. All of this is documented in the settlers' accounts.
But, in some respects, the movie clearly breaks with the historical record. There is no evidence of Dorothy Bradford's nightmares about her son back in Leyden. The film deviates from established facts in showing Massasoit poised to attack the settlers until Squanto talks him out of it. In this screen version, some Indians abduct Billlington's son as payback for the settlers' theft of Indian corn. But it is clear from Bradford's account that young Billington simply got lost in the woods. The film shows Hopkins' wife Elizabeth developing a constructive relationship with Hobomok's wife, for which there is no evidence. And it gives a prominent role to Hobomok's son ("Wematin"), although the documentary record offers no evidence for even his existence. In the movie, the Wessagusset massacre is presented as Plymouth's pre-emptive strike against an Indian conspiracy. But the settlers' accounts show it is just as true that what the Indians planned was a pre-emptive response to the Weston men's conspiracy to steal their corn.
The film shows Squanto mistranslating English and Indian statements, evidently to prevent confrontations-but we have no evidence of this (the English settlers, unacquainted with Indian languages, obviously could not judge the veracity of translations). Squanto actually died, not at a meeting with settlers and other Indians as shown in the movie, but during a trading expedition around Cape Cod. It is true, as we see in the film, that, as he lay dying, he asked Bradford to pray for him to the English God.
Captain Jones was more helpful to the settlers than the film suggests. He led at least one of the original shore exploration parties, and after another foray, "killed five geese, which he friendly distributed among the sick people." He provided some of the Mayflower's canons to the colony, and helped the settlers transport them up fort hill and mount them. And he kept the ship at hand from November 1620 until April 1621 in support of the colony. One contemporary account refers to Jones's "kindness and forwardness." Jones did offer to take those who wished back to England-none went.
The casting and the script attempt an honest portrayal of all the characters and their settlements. The actors capture what we know of the personalities of the leading settlers-that Standish was somewhat abrasive and had a bad relationship with John Billington (in years not covered by the movie, Billington was tied up by neck and heels for cursing Standish, and was eventually (1630) hanged for murder), that Stephen Hopkins sometimes clashed with the leaders, that Edward Winslow was an effective diplomat, and William Bradford was a respected leader.
The film gives major attention to Native Americans, who, like the settlers, were not a monolithic group. On screen, we see their actual hair styles and attire. Great credit goes to the actors who portray the Indians, and deliver their lines in a Native American language (although apparently not the language that Eastern Massachusetts Indians actually spoke), accompanied by English or French subtitles. The film reveals the differences between tribes and their leaders, as far as these were understood by the settlers. Massasoit was a reasonable man and a true friend to Plymouth. Squanto befriended the settlers in important ways, but evidently had his own agenda. And, as shown in the film, there apparently was some sort of rivalry between Squanto and Hobomok. Hobomok's wife evidently was living with him in Plymouth, but that is about all we know about her. Canonicus, who appears in this film bullying Massasoit and threatening Plymouth by sending arrows in a snakeskin, got along well with Rhode Island settlers and was almost a father figure to Roger Williams.
In the movie's final scene, the story jumps six years, from the second thanksgiving, and shows Bradford greeting his son John, who has just arrived from Leyden. Of course, this is only the beginning of the Plymouth story, which carries on until Plymouth was incorporated in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
The film is necessarily based on accounts written by white Englishmen. The Indians left no written records, so the film's producers had to make educated guesses about their conversations and conferences. This is also true regarding English and Native American women. Despite a few historical inaccuracies, this mini-series gives a true feeling of the settlers' challenges and how they dealt with them.
For the most part, this mini-series, which devotes 20 minutes to the voyage, and nearly three hours to the first few years of Plymouth colony, adheres to actual historical events. Aboard the Mayflower, we see the birth of Oceanus Hopkins, the storm, the ship's broken beam, and John Howland being washed overboard. We see the settlers, in their first onshore explorations, finding skeletons, buried Indian corn, and the site of former Indian village on which they construct Plymouth. The film shows Samoset appearing and greeting them in English, Squanto teaching them how to plant crops, and the settlers negotiating a mutual assistance treaty with Massasoit, and Hobomok's wife being sent to investigate Squanto's warning that Massasoit intended to attack the colony, and finding that no attack was planned. All of this is documented in the settlers' accounts.
But, in some respects, the movie clearly breaks with the historical record. There is no evidence of Dorothy Bradford's nightmares about her son back in Leyden. The film deviates from established facts in showing Massasoit poised to attack the settlers until Squanto talks him out of it. In this screen version, some Indians abduct Billlington's son as payback for the settlers' theft of Indian corn. But it is clear from Bradford's account that young Billington simply got lost in the woods. The film shows Hopkins' wife Elizabeth developing a constructive relationship with Hobomok's wife, for which there is no evidence. And it gives a prominent role to Hobomok's son ("Wematin"), although the documentary record offers no evidence for even his existence. In the movie, the Wessagusset massacre is presented as Plymouth's pre-emptive strike against an Indian conspiracy. But the settlers' accounts show it is just as true that what the Indians planned was a pre-emptive response to the Weston men's conspiracy to steal their corn.
The film shows Squanto mistranslating English and Indian statements, evidently to prevent confrontations-but we have no evidence of this (the English settlers, unacquainted with Indian languages, obviously could not judge the veracity of translations). Squanto actually died, not at a meeting with settlers and other Indians as shown in the movie, but during a trading expedition around Cape Cod. It is true, as we see in the film, that, as he lay dying, he asked Bradford to pray for him to the English God.
Captain Jones was more helpful to the settlers than the film suggests. He led at least one of the original shore exploration parties, and after another foray, "killed five geese, which he friendly distributed among the sick people." He provided some of the Mayflower's canons to the colony, and helped the settlers transport them up fort hill and mount them. And he kept the ship at hand from November 1620 until April 1621 in support of the colony. One contemporary account refers to Jones's "kindness and forwardness." Jones did offer to take those who wished back to England-none went.
The casting and the script attempt an honest portrayal of all the characters and their settlements. The actors capture what we know of the personalities of the leading settlers-that Standish was somewhat abrasive and had a bad relationship with John Billington (in years not covered by the movie, Billington was tied up by neck and heels for cursing Standish, and was eventually (1630) hanged for murder), that Stephen Hopkins sometimes clashed with the leaders, that Edward Winslow was an effective diplomat, and William Bradford was a respected leader.
The film gives major attention to Native Americans, who, like the settlers, were not a monolithic group. On screen, we see their actual hair styles and attire. Great credit goes to the actors who portray the Indians, and deliver their lines in a Native American language (although apparently not the language that Eastern Massachusetts Indians actually spoke), accompanied by English or French subtitles. The film reveals the differences between tribes and their leaders, as far as these were understood by the settlers. Massasoit was a reasonable man and a true friend to Plymouth. Squanto befriended the settlers in important ways, but evidently had his own agenda. And, as shown in the film, there apparently was some sort of rivalry between Squanto and Hobomok. Hobomok's wife evidently was living with him in Plymouth, but that is about all we know about her. Canonicus, who appears in this film bullying Massasoit and threatening Plymouth by sending arrows in a snakeskin, got along well with Rhode Island settlers and was almost a father figure to Roger Williams.
In the movie's final scene, the story jumps six years, from the second thanksgiving, and shows Bradford greeting his son John, who has just arrived from Leyden. Of course, this is only the beginning of the Plymouth story, which carries on until Plymouth was incorporated in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
The film is necessarily based on accounts written by white Englishmen. The Indians left no written records, so the film's producers had to make educated guesses about their conversations and conferences. This is also true regarding English and Native American women. Despite a few historical inaccuracies, this mini-series gives a true feeling of the settlers' challenges and how they dealt with them.