No relation to actual history

Rating: 3/10 (16 August 2016)

So, Briton John Smith with his crew and governor Ratcliffe arrive in America and start construction activities on an unclaimed piece of real estate (unclaimed, despite being so close to a Native American settlement.. seriously.) The chief of the Native American settlement is Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas (engaged to be married to a brave of her tribe, Koccum) dreams of a more exciting life than what she thinks Koccum will give her. She comes into contact and falls in love with John Smith and the rest of the film focuses on the trials and tribulations of the lovers.
First of all, the British settlers shown to be harmless and somewhat defensive and respectful of the Natives is a stretch of the imagination. It is not really a secret how the natives were relieved of their property by the settlers who had superior technology. It was an unofficial policy of British colonialism to passive-aggressively wipe out indigenous populations by over exploitation and not providing relief when famines resulted from this over exploitation. In fact they hated (and still hate) those peoples who somehow survived with their religion using tactics like over-reproduction.
Secondly (possible spoiler), the claim that Indigenous Americans have been shown is good light is not true at all. Case in point: When Koccum sees Pocahontas and JS together, he all of a sudden goes all uncivilized and savage. He doesn't shrug and go away (Which he would have probably done because Native American women were said to be allowed to select their partners), he doesn't give a warning, he just yells and attacks with his ax. The entire proceedings are racist at a cringe - inducing level.
Thirdly, they've shown that the crew mutinies against Ratcliffe and refuses to fire in the end because they come to know that there is a truce. The kind of decimation that was achieved (in actual history) in face of such insubordination is remarkable.
Everyone knows it is natural that when civilizations first come into contact (and in this case it was just after the middle ages), they make more hate then love, but at least don't lie about it. This aggravates the injustice. Poor Ratcliffe (an actual historical person) also evokes sympathy, the blame for everything has been laid on him for no reason and his name is tarnished forever. He actually met a gruesome death at the hands of natives.
The film itself is not very engaging. John Smith is blandly handsome. Pocahontas though exquisitely beautiful, doesn't have too many expressions and if you look closely, all the ladies of her tribe have the same face, with different hair. Even less can be said about the other characters of the film. The animals are cute. If you are watching this on TV you'll make frequent trips to the bathroom and to get snacks and cola. To be fair, how much can you get out of the done to death trope of Pocahontas throwing herself on JS to protect him. That said, Two scenes in this film are pure magic: when Pocahontas and Smith first meet and in the end when Pocahontas rushes to her ledge to get a better view of her lover's ship leaving. Music is also nice. The three stars are for that.