The Donner Party

The only reason I finished this movie was that I was waiting for it to get better. At one point I paused it and saw there was only 15 minutes left and was so bored I fast-forwarded through the rest.

I expected one of two things, a movie out to entertain through shock value or an American Epic. I got neither. Therein lies the problem; the movie's scope simply isn't grand enough. With all the drama, betrayal, tragedy, desperation, and heartbreak that occurred during these events you'd think that you'd see some of it on screen. I'm no expert on the Donner Party, but as I understand the trip took months just to get to the point the film starts up. Where it proceeds to tell a small 2 week time frame about the hardships of the people who made an attempt at being rescued.

This could have been a sprawling epic of the American Pioneer days on par with 'Dances with Wolves', yet we only get to see the small group and how hungry they are. That's it. We see nothing of what happened to the 30+ people back at the camp. I heard they had to resort to eating leather clothes and bones boiled so many times over they became brittle and edible, none of that made it into the film. If you cut out all of the establishing shots of snow and trees the movie wouldn't have even been an hour long.

Bottom line, read the Wikipedia article, skip the movie.

The issue I have with any recent movie in the last couple decades is they put "based on a true story" while not even trying to follow any of the actual events.

It's along the lines of the story writer reading about the Revolutionary War, and then involving jet skis and aliens in the timeline, and then claiming it was "based on a true story." Although I'm sure there are many earlier examples, "A Perfect Storm" is the first one I remember. Essentially, the only thing they knew about the boat was that it sank out at sea after losing radio contact. Somehow they turned that into an an over 2 hour movie. None of anything in that movie was verifiably true other than the names and possibly the characteristics of the people.

This movie is worse, because it had a somewhat rich source of information from the survivors in which to try and follow the true story. Basically none of that was even touched on. The entire movie was "hey, some people might have been cannibals," and then they made a villain.

If you are looking for something that will actually tell you what the Donner Party was like, do not watch this film. I'd suggest a documentary instead. Otherwise, this film is about as true to the source as "Cannibal: The Musical," and that film was more enjoyable.

Crispin Glover leads the ill fated Donner Party in this entertaining fictional, though based on fact, movie. The audience is immediately aware of the party's desperate situation, stranded and starving in the snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. The film, though relentlessly downbeat, does try to realistically portray how individuals might have reacted to the extreme conditions they were subjected to. Cannibalism is portrayed in a dignified manner, not sensationalized, and there is actually very little blood. The haunting soundtrack seems very appropriate, and the Donner Pass locations beautifully, though bleakly, photographed. Recommended, and especially recommended if you want to see Crispin Glover in a restrained and believable performance. - MERK

This was a low-budget effort to capture the dire straits that the Donner Party got into when they were stranded at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, running out of food. The most interesting thing about the Donner Party isn't the starving/dying, etc. It is HOW they got into the situation in the first place and the events that led up to the Sierras.

While this is primarily a talking head movie set in a bleak, snowy setting, it doesn't develop the characters that much, so in the end it's not exactly a character drama nor an adventure story. Some of the historical elements of the Donner story are accurate, some are not. Crispin Glover's performance was kind of over the top, while others were better. I'm giving it a 5 because I think shooting an indie movie in the snow isn't an easy feat and many of the locations, wardrobe, etc. Were well done.

Director T.J. Martin does history justice as he puts this capable cast through their paces.

Here, Crispin Glover's innate squirmy quirkiness is concealed and re-purposed as duplicity, guile, and scheming.

With limited backdrop and no Hollywood trickery, Martin sets out to tell an uncomfortable tale of impossible choices, selfish agendas, and moral gray areas.

The result is a stark and unforgiving portrayal of the depth of the breakdown of social norms in a desperate wilderness survival situation.

No gimmicks. No stunts. No eye-popping effects.

Just the refreshing gift of good actors bringing characters to life and a director telling a well- written and conceived story.