User reviews

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

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.

Not being by any means an expert on the story of the Donner Party, I've nevertheless done some reading on the subject. It's one of the truly tragic stories of American history that should probably be better known than it is. I stumbled upon this movie quite by chance and decided to give it a go. The criticisms that I've read of it are - strangely - both accurate and unfair. It's true that there were some liberties taken with the story. This is by no means a documentary about this incident. If that's what you want, there are books and documentaries to be consulted. This is Hollywood entertainment - and apparently low budget entertainment as well. The film-makers had to deal with some significant production issues. Given some of the challenges they faced, I thought this turned out to be a workable movie that will hopefully whet the appetite of viewers for more information about this rather famous incident in American history. Yes, I know that some will see this and assume that because they've seen it they know everything about the subject. That's unfortunate, but it doesn't take away the fact that in general terms this portrayal of the story worked fairly well.

Some criticize it for not being "interesting" enough. I'm not sure what those critics wanted. The liberties that were taken were done to inject a spark into the movie, and the movie is already criticized for doing that. This is a movie about desperate people facing desperate circumstances. It's not an action-thriller. It depicts the plight of the travellers. Some criticize it for a lack of character development. The funny thing is that's something I liked about this. I suppose an extra 30-60 minutes could have been added on to this to show the group gathering in Independence, Missouri and getting to know each other and travelling happily across the plains. Now that would have been dull. Instead, we pick up the party already in desperate circumstances. Perhaps the struggle of the trek through the Great Salt Desert would have been interesting. Aside from that (and it would have been difficult to jump from that to the point at which the movie actually started, and cumbersome to include the intervening time) I was happy enough with the story. It's true that perhaps the lack of character development meant we had little emotional connection to the characters, but the story was about the group and its plight and what it finally drove them to, not about the individuals.

The material about cannibalism was, I thought, handled sensitively. It's often over-emphasized and sensationalized in tales about the Donner Party, almost as if there was a cannibalistic feeding frenzy that went on among them. In fact, it was a desperate, last resort when there was literally no other source of food. In that sense, this is a bit reminiscent of the movie "Alive" which also dealt with the issue of cannibalism in desperate circumstances, although "Alive" had a much more spiritual sense to it.

Basically, I thought this was well done. (7/10)

The film is not based on any true historical fact as far as I could see. Even in the opening, the eventual place the Donner party hoped to get to was written as 'Sutter Fort.' Twice. Most Californians know the fort was Sutter's Fort. Glaring typo from the get go or laziness with regard to historical accuracy. You don't even have to be a Californian to know it is Sutter's Fort because the site is mentioned in grade school textbooks.

The rescue party consisted of much fewer members than were portrayed. The cannibalism occurred in the Donner camp and it was only as a very last resort and the 'victim' was already dead from exposure and starvation.

The film would have been much better if the director had focused on the powerful stories of the survivors instead of resorting to a sensationalistic cannibalism tale. There was so much more to this drama than starving humans compromising all they believed in by eating human flesh.

I could not even watch the entire film because it was so dreadful.

Donner Party, The (2009)

** (out of 4)

Disappointing telling of the now infamous Donner Party, a group of people traveling from Missouri to California but along their journey they decide to try a short-cut but this leads them into the Sierra Mountains where they become trapped by the snow. Our film starts off with them running out of food so a group of people try to walk away from the camp in hopes of finding safety but soon their chances of survival become even slimmer so they must resort to cannibalism. THE DONNER PARTY is a low-budget film that sadly never really gets anything right. This movie is far from being horrible but there's no denying that it's a major disappointment as the screenplay and direction just aren't what's needed for the material. The problem with the story itself is that there's never any real connection to any of the characters. There's no denying that what they're going through is quite depressing but this is only true because we know the real story. The "story" being told on the screen just never really grabs your attention and it certainly never pulls you into any sort of drama. There's not a single character in the film that you really care for and I can't believe the screenplay wouldn't develop them any more. Another problem with the story is that it's just not all that interesting. I think a better story would have been about the actual case involving them setting out, taking the wrong trail and then the winter stuff. Instead, we're given a story of a small party who set out to find help. Again, the screenplay just doesn't make it entertaining. I'd also say that the direction is at fault because there's not a bit of atmosphere throughout the film. This was another disappointment because there's not a single scene where you get to feel as if you're there with the people and that dramatic danger of what the characters are going through is something that never connects with the viewer. Clayne Crawford steals the film in his lead role and Crispin Glover is also pretty good in a very restrained performance. However, at the end of the day the performances aren't enough to make this movie. If you want to know about the Donner Party it's best to check out a book or some other documentary.

you'll eat it up :-). the cinematographer fit the right mood of this somber yet compelling event.the music fits the mood as well. the cast is very very good. Crispin Glover actually plays the straight role with a few twists here and there.this is the director's first, he succeeds and his future work will be worth watching. according to a review i read on the external reviews, the movie was shot at the Donner Pass. that ramps it up a bit for me and the historical aspect. a very very good attempt at storytelling. since this is the first review published for this movie, i will refrain why i changed my orig vote from 8 to 10.Overall a great attempt at storytelling. not as good as maybe Alive but well worth the viewing considering the grim subject matter.

This film was good overall despite some inaccuracies in the historical event depicted. The actors did an excellent job in their roles and the script was well written. The cinematography was just outstanding as it was mostly filmed in the area where the events depicted took place.

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.

Without the showing of the journey before they got snowed in at the pass, this falls flat. There's no build up, no getting to know the characters and because of this, the story is only half told. In everything I've read about the Donner party, nowhere was it mentioned that William Foster was a leader or speaker for the others. Interesting in showing the snowed in part of the story but little else. Such a shame really as the story of the Donner party is so much more than this. I'm hoping there is a better retelling of this true story out there somewhere. Acting was OK, nothing to write home about.

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.