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.

Ghastly tale of real event. Important doc. Wish I knew who narrated it.

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 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 Alive - Sopravvissuti (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.

It's tempting to fill this review with Addams-esque wisecracks. They'd be justified, because "The Weather Channel started it!", with ads announcing that "Dead of Winter" would premiere Thanksgiving weekend! I laughed my head off. In that context, simply to say "Donner party" is in bad taste.

I expected a conventional dramatic film, but "Dead of Winter" is a "dramatized documentary", with the (mostly silent) actors mirroring the narration and commentary. It's restrained, with The Disgusting Stuff Everyone Tuned In To See limited to appropriate moments. Parents should be aware that people are shown cutting flesh from corpses, then cooking and eating it.

The Donner tragedy is usually attributed to careless planning (at best), or utter stupidity (at worst). But the experts give the party the benefit of the doubt. Donner and Reed used the best information they had. Most of the party * acted with courage and compassion.

Production values are high, and the excellent script (unlike this review) avoids cheap exploitation. "Dead of Winter" is worth two hours of your life.

Those interested in a less-sober view of cannibalism might enjoy Trey Parker's "Cannibal! The Musical", based on the Alfred Packer incident.

* One member of the party was a murdering SOB straight out of a John Meston "Gunsmoke" script.