Dead of Winter: The Donner Party

I knew the story of the Donner Party: a group of pioneers in hope of a "better" life in California set out on a fool's errand using the unreliable advice of a scam artist and their own fortitude to survive in the most unbearable conditions a human could imagine.

If you want a comprehensive and much more historical documentary of this story, I would suggest PBS's American Experience: The Donner Party which was made maybe 20 years ago but is excellent. American Experience captured the moral and religious parts, the hopelessness, and the heartache, that The Weather Channel omitted.

This being a Weather Channel production, it is focused mainly on the weather and environmental conditions that drove these people to the absolute brink. And because of the scientific info contained in this documentary (temperatures, day count, and snowfall amounts), I think it's a very worthy and educational film.

We complain when the walk from the front door to our car is too cold. Or when our houses don't have central air. I don't know if anyone living on this earth today truly knows what cold or hot is, after seeing what these people faced, first in the desert then in the hellish mountains. These pioneers went through something the likes of which very few of us can ever imagine. And half of them survived which is an absolute miracle. It is a testament to the strength and sheer will our forefathers possessed. And how weak we modern folk seem in comparison. Riveting viewing.

This was a story I was only vaguely aware of, so it was interesting to learn more. Some may focus on the cannibalism aspect of the story, but it is really a small part and reminiscent of the movie Les Survivants (1993). So two stories that to the quick show what people sometimes must do. It's also reminiscent of the story of the The Essex: The True Story of Moby Dick (2000) upon which Moby Dick is based where survivors also resorted to cannibalism.

Overall, this is a decent telling of the Donner Party tale. They hit the big points, and their experts that they bring in, particularly Dr. Rarick. know their stuff.

But the thing is, if you watch this documentary, you'd never know that there was another family on the trail with them, the Graves family. They were in the midst of the whole story, yet they aren't mentioned once. How is that possible?

Sure, I'm overly sensitive on this subject since i'm a direct descendant of one of the surviving Graves family members. But even so, how do you just ignore part of the story like that?

This is a pretty ordinary docudrama about the events surrounding the Donner Party, perhaps a bit too focused on the weather per se, but as a Weather Channel production, that is to be expected. In terms of the basic facts, the program gives them to us, along with some onsite views of what life was like at that time. There are also lots of old photos.

What is missing are the human struggles, which are hinted at and occasionally referenced when quoting from the first hand accounts written in diaries. But this kind of distancing keeps us from getting involved in the central drama – the decision to eat a dead companion and sometimes family member. There is also a failure to provide adequate follow up as to what happened to those people who survived.

Dead of Winter: The Donner Party (2015)

*** (out of 4)

This made-for-TV documentary comes from The Weather Channel, believe it or not, and was originally aired over Thanksgiving Weekend since people were still munching on leftovers and of course would want to see a film about people eating flesh. The film itself has re-enactments as the great Powers Boothe narrates the story of early settlers who ended up in a fight for life and would eventually have to go to cannibalism in order to survive.

DEAD OF WINTER: THE DONNER PARTY isn't the greatest documentary out there but it certainly gets the job done in regards to giving people an education on every aspect of the Donner Party and not just the fact that they had to eat human flesh. The documentary covers earlier parts of their journey including all the things that had to go wrong in order for the group to end up where they did. We learn about various decision they made that would come back to haunt them but of course the main focus comes towards the end when they were left dying and without food.

If you're familiar with the story then it's doubtful you're going to learn anything new here. The re-enactments certainly aren't the greatest but they're at least entertaining and look authentic.