between prince charming and the real man (spoilers)

Rating: 8/10 (31 December 2013)

I remember seeing this movie when it came out and I thought the story and the scenery were wonderful. I felt like I was there when the explorers came, when the New World began.
But seeing it again I realize that this is not a movie about the beginning of America, it's a movie about a girl growing up and learning what true happiness is.
In the beginning, Pocahontas falls in love with Captain John Smith. John Smith embodies the perfect female dream. He is dark haired, he is an adventurer, a little wild and reckless. Above all, he is charming, or a charmer. "I made her love me", he says at one point. He leaves and Pocahontas' heart is broken.
Then she meets John Rolfe. John Rolfe is not spectacular. He's an ordinary guy. But he's a good guy. He works in the fields. He wants to marry Pocahontas but Pocahontas is not very enthusiastic about marrying him. She does not feel for him the passion she felt for John Smith. But she accepts and with time, she learns to love her husband.
But then John Smith comes back into the picture. Pocahontas learns that he's alive and her attachment to him is revived. In a courageous gesture, John Rolfe organizes a meeting between Smith and Pocahontas while they are visiting London. He wants Pocahontas to be free to choose between him and Smith. There comes John Smith on his horse. But Pocahontas does not see him as she did before. She has outgrown the prince charming. She realizes that the better man for her is John Rolfe. The one that is real and good, kind and faithful.
In this sense this movie is an anti-romantic comedy. It is contrary to the typical Hollywood romantic movie where the girl always ends up choosing the great love, in other words, John Smith. There is always a John Rolfe, the poor guy who's not perfect, who has faults, for whom she does not feel passion and who she ends up dumping for prince charming. Is she really going to live happily with her prince? I doubt it because most of the time the prince charming ends up being not so interesting and not so charming. True happiness has another face.