American Experience: The Pilgrims

Great movie if you don't know a bit of history when it comes to the Pilgrims. Kudos to MA schools on teaching Massachusetts history that has stuck with me for over 50 years. Glad to report I learned very little from the movie.

Phenomenal story

This video is extremely informative. Somewhat about the Indians, though it has the essential bones of that story. More so about the underlying economics. I never knew that the Pilgrims explored Maine and eventually established a successful fur trade from there, nor that this led to the Massachusetts Bay colony. This information is valuable enough to rescue the video from what would otherwise have caused me to give it a rating of 1 or 2.The film is marred at both beginning and end and sometimes in the middle, by excessive and very strange poetry. In fact, the entire first quarter or third of the film has ONLY poetic statements, one after another, and no actual information, except the notion that the Pilgrims strangely thought they had a positive vision of God, by positivistic filtering. Honestly, sometimes, both novels and documentaries about the Puritans leaves me thinking the academic strangeness that drove and governed them never died. Get over yourselves!The constantly repeated notion that the Pilgrims invented American democracy is just plain nauseating. It is completely untrue. This sort of right wing romantic lying mostly highlights the fact that the Pilgrims were neither very nice nor very democratic. Calvinistic notions of church government affected all Calvinists, like for instance the Scotch Irish and not only the Pilgrim, and it was largely lost on the Pilgrims. There is a better argument that American democracy was invented by the Iroquois Indians and conscientiously copied by the founding fathers. And then there is Athenian democracy. Not to mention the steady growth of democratic institutions in England from medieval times. !!!!!! It smacks of right wing patriotism. If academese liberals wished to tell a romantic, partially documentary story about the pilgrims, they should have left any notions about their role in founding democracy out entirely. And, the video makes it pretty clear that the Pilgrims' actual role in the founding of the country was largely economic.

Several reviews below are pissed that the portrayal includes depictions of puritans & pilgrims as racists. The reviewers seem to be taking that personally; finding it "PC" to the exclusion of historical accuracy (or something).I just want to say, my ancestor - Mrs. Alice Southworth - was one of those puritans - she became the 1st First Lady of the USA, before it was the US, as she married Governor Bradford of Plymouth colony. (She's my direct descendant paternally). Her wedding to Gov. Bradford was the first "Euro/Christian" wedding on American soil. At that wedding, they used the head of a Native man as their only decoration. It was impaled on a post. This is all well documented including in their own journals. Did they hate all Natives? Possibly not; the decapitation had to do with taking sides in a conflict between 2 tribes; trying to ally themselves with 1 tribe over another.But did they see the Native folks as their equals? Absolutely not. Because the puritans were actual racists, in keeping with their time & especially their religion, they believed race determined intelligence, character, and a whole host of other things. If I can not take it personally when the truth is being depicted about my own relatives, the reviewers can probably figure out how to not take it personally. (And I hope you will watch and judge for yourself.)The puritans did establish one of the first successful colonies - based on ideals they only imperfectly embodied - paving the way for many of us who have followed; fellow immigrants to this great nation. They were worse than imperfect - often prejudiced and ugly - especially by modern standards. You don't have to take it personally, and you don't have to go back in time to fix it, but it is the truth. (They felt it was their destiny given by God to take this land from the Natives. Would they have felt that same right had the land been occupied by white christian folks? aaah-No). They very clearly believed they were superior and that enabled them to do things that by our modern standards are horrific. But they also established some ideals we all hold dear today. Life ain't simple and neither is history, just watch and judge for yourself.

This is not the story we recall learning in school as a kid. But as an adult, watching this for a college level American history course, this docudrama tells a grim and dark tale of the trials and terrors of America's first settlers. Now I understand why we got the very watered down and sugar-coated version in school because the reality of it kids wouldn't comprehend and it would scare them, I think.But Ric Burn's emotionally driven account drives home almost too well, the harsh reality clashing with the Pilgrims' visionary dreams of a new Heaven in the Promised Land. What they experienced was far different than they dreamed and much harsher a fate. It gives a new and deeper appreciation of the courage, long-suffering, and faith these survivors had to cultivate in themselves just to survive. This is a story of survival at its core.The late Roger Rees' monologue style narrative as William Bradford was immersive and heartfelt if not a little depressing. Not sure if this was how the script was written or because he was in the final stages of his life at this point. Appears he had passed away before this movie was released. I enjoyed listening to his voice though - was so soothing.Very well made documentary with narration and interviews with historians, anthropologists, etc, over filmography worthy of a historical epic film, give detailed insight that we would not learn in the American school system until college level.

Won't play on UK DVD player!

Riche évocation de la migration des premiers pèlerins de la Nouvelle Angleterre. Touchante performance de Roger Rees à quelques mois de son décès.

Excelleny

It was an enlightening experience for me to learn about what the early pioneers went thru when they came to America, especially those who came to live without persecution for their beliefs. A very good one to keep in my library.