Thanksgiving Movies (& Music): Desperate Crossing and Saints & Strangers~

I apologize if you came here looking for a complete listing of Thanksgiving movies.  To be honest,  aside from the Hallmark love stories and a few others that may have a Thanksgiving scene,  there are very few high quality movies that center on this much over-looked holiday.

What I center on for this week's blog post are two films - one a docudrama that plays like a movie,  and the other an actual movie.   Both,  I believe,  are great to watch,  being mostly historically accurate,  and can teach a bit about this holiday's beginnings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oftentimes people will comment that we need to  "familiarize ourselves with the real history"  of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans.

The trouble is,  it seems that too many of  those who want us to  "familiarize ourselves with the real history"  don't know the real history themselves.  They only know what's been fed to them.  

If you are too busy to research the truth,  here are a couple of alternate ways - as close to the truth as I've yet to see - two very well-done films that depict some well-researched history of the Pilgrims and their adventures crossing the ocean and settling on the new land.

And befriending the Natives.

Let's begin with:

Desperate Crossing~

Desperate Crossing -

Part movie-part documentary  (otherwise known as a docu-drama),  this film  (believe it or not produced by The History Channel)  of the pilgrims is two and a half hours of a well-known and very important part of our American history,  although you may not realize how little you actually do know of these separatists and of the times they lived.  In fact,  it certainly is more movie than documentary and,  although interspersed throughout are historians filling in the gaps,  this docu-drama is as engulfing and riveting as any full-length period movie I have seen.  The lives and times of these early European settlers are authentically portrayed by use of English Shakespearean actors,  and the quality shows.  Never have I seen any other film put flesh on the bones of the pilgrims to the extent this one does.  A social history extravaganza!

The clothing,  lighting,  effects  (especially while on the Mayflower),  and,  at times,  even some of the speech patterns are reflected fairly accurately.  I did not see the typical revisionist history so often reflected in many of today's historical depictions.  They were very religious folk bent on keeping their practices,  even if they had to cross the ocean to do it,   and this movie shows that in no uncertain terms.
The Indian dramatization was done very well for the most part,  although I would have preferred to have their speech in their original  (or close to their original)  language and include the use of sub-titles.
Oh well,  can't have everything.
As an extra added bonus,  by the way,  there are a couple of short  (too short!)  extra's - one features the making of this extraordinary documentary,  and the other has outtakes and bloopers.
For teachers and lovers of history I recommend Desperate Crossing very highly.  A wonderful way to learn about our early American history.

Spotting land...

The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth,  England on September 16,  1620,  carrying 102 passengers and a crew of 25–30 men and officers,  for a total of around 130 people on board.  The Mayflower was a merchant ship that typically carried wine and dry goods,  so this would not have been the most comfortable ride.  After more than two months  (66 days)  at sea,  the Pilgrims finally arrived at Cape Cod on November 11,  1620.  A few weeks later,  they sailed up the coast to Plymouth and started to build their town where a group of Wampanoag People had lived before.  

Aboard the Mayflower - the perilous journey is almost over.

Nearly half of the Pilgrims and Puritans died during the voyage.  Only 50 of the original 102 passengers survived the first winter.

Squanto,  whose real name was Tisquantum,  was a member of the Patuxet tribe, 
which was part of the Wampanoag.

It's this docudrama that made me curious because hardly any of it fit those Facebook memes and narratives,  which are mostly wrong,  so I found myself seeking out books and websites so I could learn for myself the truth...from both sides.

And,  Boy!  did I ever.

So this is a great history lesson right here in a nutshell. 

~~~

The next film that I am writing about is called

Saints & Strangers 

Here is an actual movie - a mini-series - about the Pilgrims & Natives and the  "1st"  Thanksgiving.  And you know what?  It is pretty good.

Very  good,  in fact.

The Wampanoag shared their food and taught the Pilgrims how to grow new crops, which helped the Pilgrims survive the harsh winter of 1620–21.  

You would think we should be used to the fact that movies and TV shows & series that cover historical events are never fully accurate,  though some do far better than others.  It’s a shame that Hollywood history is so accepted as truth,  but it happens mostly because people don’t realize that what they’re seeing is solely for entertainment purposes...out to make money - so will have inaccuracies to make it more  "exciting,"  and be more contemporary - because they feel modern viewers will not be interested unless there are sex scenes,  "inclusivity,"  and comes from our modern world view.  But guess what?  When it comes to history,  most people want the real deal.

The Mayflower

Yeah...too many historical movies are about as accurate as a Facebook meme!

Though there are many factual and well-researched sections in Saints and Strangers  (more than one may realize),  there are also some fictionalized parts as well.  But not too much,  thankfully.  

Now,  I'm not going to get into great detail here,  but I will say that I am pleasantly surprised that it really follows the truth much more than I expected,  and throws in a few bits of historical fact I've not seen elsewhere,  including Squanto teaching these early European settlers how to plant corn together with fish,  green beans,  and pumpkins.  There's another scene where a woman chastises her husband for doing  (or wanting to do)  "women's work."  And the portrayal of the Natives?

I appreciate the fact that the Natives speak their own language  (with the use of sub-titles).

Pretty awesome!  They even have them speak in their own language and use sub-titles.  I am so glad they did that!  It just adds so much.

Coming to do some trading.

I will say I purchased this movie on the recommendation of a friend, and I found it to be very well done, for the most part.  It does show fairly well both the English and the Native interactions somewhat accurately,  comparing pretty favorably to my own research.

A good watch.

So I give Saints and Strangers an 8 out of 10  (no  "9"  or  "10"  due to the few items they got wrong or purposely changed,  such as hearing a woman say  "damn"  twice within minutes.  That word means nothing to us today,  but in 1621 she would have most certainly been put in the stocks for her exclamations,  at the very least).  As a whole it was a good watch with a good amount of accuracy - enough to include it here. 

The  "1st"  Thanksgiving.

As far as clothing,  however,  I'll leave that up to my 17th century living historian friends to let me know if they are accurate or not.

The Indigenous characters in the miniseries speak Western Abenaki,  a language similar to but distinct from that which would have been spoken by the Wampanoag of the time.  National Geographic employed a dialect coach to teach the language to the actors.

And a fine meal it was.
From what's I've read in my research is that the Natives and Pilgrims may not have necessarily sat together as seen here.  Other bits of research said they did.

While watching this,  there was an immersive feel to it.  In fact,  there was to both films I reviewed here.  Now,  I'm not saying they were exactly textbook accurate,  but probably as close as we'll get.

More from the  "1st"  Thanksgiving.

Why only two reviews here?
Because the other movies I've seen were poorly made --- a little too Hollywood for my taste.  And then there are the Hallmark love story movies.

Blecchhh!

Now...I know I missed the classic of all Thanksgiving classics,  "Miracle on 34th Street."  But,  though the story line begins on Thanksgiving,  it soon goes into being a Christmas movie.  I'm not saying that's wrong or bad or anything - I was just hoping to keep this post about Thanksgiving movies.  I looked up lists of movies about Thanksgiving and,  well,  let's just say that by far the greater number of those that made the list have little real Thanksgiving spirit.  I mean,  Hallmark movies,  movies that may have a short Thanksgiving scene  ("The Doors,"  "American Gangster,"  "Stepmom" - - you get the picture),  and horror movies  (!?!).

Yeah...no.  

However,  I would be remiss to not mention  "Son-In-Law" - a movie with Thanksgiving at its center that I do enjoy watching.  Yep---dumb comedy,  but sometimes those are the best.

Then there's  "Planes,  Trains,  and Automobiles."   It was a pretty okay movie but nowhere near as funny as I had hoped.  But,  from what I understand it is somewhat loosely based on a true story.  

I feel I must mention  "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,"  though it is less than a half hour long and is animated.  But we enjoy it.

So,  basically,  I'll keep the two Pilgrim videos reviewed here,  for they both have a great spirit about them - 

~~~

Did you know that there are Thanksgiving Carols?

One is  "Over The River and Through The Wood."  More on that shortly.

Another?

Well...since you asked - - here's a background story...

Also known as  "Jingle Bells"

This Thanksgiving carol was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title   "One Horse Open Sleigh"  in the autumn of 1857.  In 1859,  the title was revised to  "Jingle Bells."  This was during a time when Thanksgiving was celebrated at different times in the fall months,  depending on the state,  so the harvest feast could had been celebrated later in the autumn when the snow had already fallen. 

Our modern ears believe that the jingle bells heard during the snowy season are for Christmas because of this ever-popular song.  That is truly not the case:  jingle bells were originally fastened to sleighs for safety reasons.  The horse's clip-clopping usually heard along the roads are muffled greatly by the snow-covered ground of late fall and winter,  and the head covering the folks wore also muffled the sound of the on-coming beasts and carriages,  making the pedestrian pert-near deaf.  This could be a dangerous situation,  except for the higher-pitched sounds of the jingle bells warning the pedestrian to move out of the way.  Just as horns are required on the modern day motor vehicles,  bells were once a must for snow-covered travel on sleighs.  "Keeping to the Right"  upon hearing the jingling of a sleigh was the rule then as it is for automobiles today. 

The rhythm of the tune mimics that of a trotting horse's bells.

It didn't take long,  however,  for this secular ditty to join the growing myriad of carols for Christmas.

However,  it seems many have forgotten the third verse,  which happens to be my favorite:

A day or two ago

The story I must tell

I went out on the snow

And on my back I fell

A gent was riding by

In a one-horse open sleigh

He laughed as there I sprawling lie

But quickly drove away - - !

Not quite the action of a Victorian gentleman,  eh?

Flowers for Children,  Volume 2

"The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day,"   also known as  "Over the River and Through the Wood,"  is a Thanksgiving poem by Lydia Maria Child,  originally published in 1844 in a collection called Flowers for Children,  Volume 2.

Now,  I did not know this was a Thanksgiving song until I saw the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving cartoon back in the early 1970s,  and even then I thought they were mistaken,  for I heard it on my mother's Christmas records.  But,  nope---they were correct.  It truly is a song for Thanksgiving.

Although many people sing  "to grandmother's house we go,"  the author's original words were  "to grandfather's  house we go."  Moreover,  in modern American English,  most people use the word woods  (with the plural  "s")  rather than wood  (without the  "s")  in reference to a forest,  and sing the song accordingly.

It celebrates the author's childhood memories of visiting her grandfather's house.  Lydia Maria Child was a novelist,  journalist,  teacher,  and poet who wrote extensively about the need to eliminate slavery.

The poem was eventually set to a tune by an unknown composer.  The song version is sometimes presented with lines about Christmas rather than Thanksgiving.  For instance,  the line  "Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!"  becomes  "Hurrah for Christmas Day!"   As a Christmas song,  it has been recorded as  "A Merry Christmas at Grandmother's."  As I mentioned,  the modern Thanksgiving holiday is not always associated with snow,  for snow in late November occasionally occurs in the northern states and is rare at best elsewhere in the United States.  But New England in the early 19th century was enduring the Little Ice Age,  a colder era with earlier winters.

Now here is something interesting:
There is a house that is thought to be  "Grandfather's House"   (also known as the Paul Curtis House),  which is a historic house in Medford,  Massachusetts.   It is claimed to be the original house named in the Lydia Maria Child poem.  The rear portion of was built as a small farmhouse in the early 19th century.   Child recalled the farmhouse when she wrote of her childhood visits to her grandfather's house in her poem,  published in 1844.  It was in 1839 that the house was greatly enlarged to what it is today.  Perhaps that is what enticed her to write this poem of her childhood.

And there are even Harvest songs as well.  But that's a post for another time.

Happy Thanksgiving Harvest everyone!

Until next time,  see you in time.

Here's a history of Thanksgiving blog post - click HERE

Here is Thanksgiving in colonial times - click HERE
And here are our own living history Thanksgiving celebrations

2023

2024

~~~~~~ ~~~