Saints & Strangers

Like all good dramas this show doesn't try to tell you what you should think. It tries to tell the story with honesty and attention to detail while taking just enough poetic license to make these characters relatable to us. What it boils down to is that, regardless of the perspective, we're all people who share a common desire to prosper and live good lives. We're often more alike than different, and all of us have flaws. In a new world where can decide how they want to live people make up the rules as they go. Being unhindered by prejuidces and past norms allow people the flexibility to come to new understandings

A very well played movie, with an interesting plot. I didn't get bored a single second of it and I recommend it to anyone.

The actual premise of the story, showing the Mayflower settlers from a different perspective, was very good, acting was great and nice to see proper weapons being used correctly. However one thing that really took away from the whole thing was the women actors looked as if they had just visited a beauty parlour, with their carefully coiffured hair and immaculately plucked eyebrows going very well with their flawless skin. Living in conditions like that you very quickly get 'the grime' , a dirtiness that covers you and takes many hot baths and showers to get rid of. Your hair grows in tangled messes and your skin erupts in a whole selection of interesting and persistent blemishes. And as for one of the women wearing a crocheted shawl, really? She would be wearing animal skins or if really lucky an old blanket.

Granted, there is controversy about what happened between the Pilgrims from the Mayflower and the local Native Americans. As the Ojibwa say, "there are two sides to every story, and then there's the truth."

What this two-part series demonstrates is that it's not just the clash of cultures that creates tension: it's the political strife within cultures. Saints & Strangers brings these tensions, misunderstandings and conflicts to the forefront to make what we've all told is a simple story the more true reality of how complex the interactions actually were.

Attention to historical detail, including in costume design and makeup, is impeccable. The use of what would have been the language of the Native Americans (barely preserved by the dialect coach from people he knew because he didn't want to see the language die) is a side benefit of the enterprise and makes the portrayals of the main Native American roles not only believable, but compelling. Dialog between key characters illuminates the realization of the difficult enterprise resulting from arriving in an unknown place. Freedom from cultural restraints is replaced by awareness that no matter where we are, there are always social constraints.

This project must become a classic. It reveals that our sentimental notions about Thanksgiving don't reveal the truth. European settlement on this continent wasn't what anyone thought it would be -- neither the Europeans nor the Native Americans who had to navigate how to interact with each other, whether to trust each other, and what to learn from one another.

Saints & Strangers is both an homage to the people who came together, under trying circumstances, as well as a cautionary tale. It paints clearly that there is no "good" or "bad" side: that politics, no matter our skin color, always attempts to cloud our judgment. In the end, it also shows that no matter who we are, or from where we have come, we are ultimately all cut from the same cloth.

Isabeau Vollhardt, author, The Casebook of Elisha Grey e-book series

Saints and Strangers does a pretty good job of telling the story of the early encounters between New England's pilgrim settlers and their Native American hosts/antagonists. I felt the story portrayed a balanced (accuracy is debatable) view of the plight of both groups. The constant cultural dilemmas, physical dangers, and shifting alliances made for a good night of television. There's obviously a lot of history to fit into 2 episodes so hopefully this will return as a full series. One interesting note: when I read through the cast of characters, I was surprised to see Ron Livingston (of Office Space fame) listed as portraying John Carver? I totally missed him...I'll have to pay closer attention when I watch it again.