what was the point?

Rating: 4/10 (17 April 2006)

I can't vouch for the historical accuracy or inaccuracy of this movie, only the entertainment value. For me, historical information if it is presented well is entertainment. Documentaries are entertainment. This movie was not entertainment. Pocohantus was very beautiful in an mysterious, exotic sort of way, but having the camera spend so much time focused on her was like saying "look, I have nothing much to say here so just stare at her instead". Which I did, but like all eye candy, there is no nutritional value. Yet I wanted nutritional value with my movie. This proved exceedingly hard for another reason - the settler's dialogue almost needed subtitles as badly as the Indian's dialogue. I could barely make out what they were saying at times. Meanwhile, Capt Smith mutters when he speaks at all, apparently as mesmerized into muteness by Pocohantus as much as I was.
I didn't stick around until the end as it was getting late. I do think that there was a germ of a statement trying to get expressed in this movie, trying to get out. Something about how supposedly "primitive" savages are really far more advanced in many ways than supposedly "civilized" settlers. It would have been nice to see this theme developed with real historical insights, but unfortunately the director was too captivated with Pocohantus and the love story to allow much time for that.