Alone Yet Not Alone

The first 30 minutes of this film is the only part worth watching. Once Kelly Grayson hits the screen, all believability is out the window. I could barely sit and watch the rest. The only tolerable actors were the extras. Miss Grayson's character somehow managed to maintain clean clothes and perfect teeth despite living in the woods with her native captors. The British General was so poorly acted as to be comical. The only redeeming quality of this film is the beautiful cinematography, and much of this is marred by poor color correction and editing. All in all, an extremely poor treatment of a very touching historical event. Don't waste your time.

Let me start out by saying, I am a Native Re en actor and have been in a few movies and several documentary's relating to the French and Indian War. And I am a Native American Little River Band Of Odawa Indians Tribal Member. The Person who put the native casting together to play the parts in the movie certainly did not do any research at all in regards to what did the woodland native people woman/men(period correct) look like as far appearance,their clothing, there hair, their beliefs, there traditions. The whole native outlook in this movie is so far fetched. It is in comparison to a Hollywood John Wayne shoot um up cowboys and Indians type native scenes. Here are a few things what I saw with the movie in regards to the native characters are so wrong. Woodland Natives Warriors east of the Mississippi for the most part only had a scalp lock in the back of the head which means the rest of the head was plucked of hair. Glasko is wearing a long porky pine roach which is western plains peoples tradition, not woodland. Squaw in the French language back then and today means Whore. Warrior men would never miss use there women, children and more so white captives or children. Remember they would replace there fallen warriors with captives, which meant males would become warriors and there hair plucked with only a scalp lock remaining. Women would become providers, not squaws for sure. There English clothes would be discarded and all would be dressed as natives. We never dyed the hair black of white captives. Food was always distributed throughout the tribe, so we never had to eat grubs believe me. Burning captives at the stake is very far fetched to say the least. Native people are far from being sadistic barbarians. And the Great Spirit is the person you call God or Jesus. We are spiritual people, God gave us our language and one of the words in our language is Gitchi Manido(Great Spirit) So one last comment in this review is, I was one of the Native Re enactors in the movie in which at the time of the filming of this movie myself and other Native Re enactors tried to tell the casting, movie director and ward robe personal that period correct clothing was not being used, and scene were just out of character for a French and Indian Type True Story Movie. Myself, Ron Pinson, Tony Wade, Dancing Elk were the only Natives who were dressed in period correct French and Indian War type clothing. At the end of the movie, they showed the casting in which I did not see one Native American name in the casting. And with that, I Have Nothing more to say.

This just wasn't a very good movie. I watched a screening copy (with a friend from an appropriate guild) on a whim, and being a bit of a history buff, some movies people find to slow I still like. This wasn't one of them. It claims to be based on a true story (which it may VERY LOOSELY be), but the historical inaccuracies were rampant in nearly every scene. I'm actually surprised it was shot in Williamsburg, VA, because they clearly didn't hire a knowledgeable technical adviser. It also portrayed the indigenous Americans with a pretty racist slant. Additionally, there were a number of quality issues with the film. There was inconsistent depth of field throughout the film, making it look like something shot on Best Buy camera with a stock zoom lens. The color was off from shot to shot. The audio didn't sound feature quality and seemed like they relied on the score to cover up audio imperfections. The acting was very poor (with the exception of Mama- Joanie Stewart was good). It was either no feeling or EVERY FEELING EVER ALL AT ONCE!!! The dialogue was poor and the sisters' bond to each other and god kind of felt like it was a given, with no motives or honesty, just blind faith because Daddy told them so. It's almost a jaded rip off of An American Tale, except without any of the adventure or feeling (or cute animated mice). I was able to make it all the way through, but was left feeling empty and bored, rather than inspired and uplifted. There may be an audience for it, but I'm not sure who. It's really just a poor presentation of lower budget filmmaking. 3/10

Really enjoyed the story and story-telling. Filmography and scenery were great. Showed how people with faith can still find ways to be happy through great tribulations.

A worthy effort for a low-budget movie from a Christian production company. It's a bit uneven at times in terms of dialogue and performances. It is visually pleasing, and held our interest. My wife loved it. It has something of the flavor of Last of the Mohicans, but not as professionally executed. The latter portion seems a bit anti-climactic until the very end, which is moving.

As something of a history buff, I've read quite a bit about this fascinating period in colonial history. Things are portrayed a little simplistically, of course, as almost all movies do. While I cannot speak to the details of Native American culture portrayed in the film, it certainly softens the barbarity of these tribes against their enemies, and especially captives. Burning people is about as cruel as they get in the film, but reality could be much, much worse than that. Torture was something of a form of entertainment then. The film portrays the Delaware as real people, however. Some more inclined to brutality than others. Their chief is presented as a wise leader. Almost all the English government officials are portrayed as fools, especially in scenes with the founders (Col. Washington and Dr.Franklin make brief appearances).

Not a great film, but for what it is and what it cost, it succeeds rather well. Families should enjoy it.