Dans le sillage des pirates

An enjoyable documentary on the age of pirates. Re-enactments felt authentic and paired well with interviews and narration. The narrator had a fun tone that carried well throughout. Interesting information and the whole series had a good flow.

I'm a sucker for anything Pirate related. When I first saw Netflix was working on a Pirate show my head went straight to Black Sails and instantly was excited. Later I learned this was going to be a docu-series so I was slightly disappointed but it was still about Pirates so I was in!

The show has its flaws, there is a lot of repetition but highlights some important events 1716-1718 of piracy and in general is an enjoyable watch.

The scope of this documentary are roughly two years during the year 1716 - 1718 and then mainly about the pirates that sailed from Nassau. It has a total of 6 episodes of 40 minutes, so I thought that it would had enough time to really flesh out the period. But the way this documentary has been structured means that something has to repeated no less than four times. First - it is told by the narrator, then it is acted out by the actors, then a historian has to comment on it and the next episode is has to be repeated in case you have forgotten. So this documentary is pressed for time. It will mention the war of succession, but will not explain it, it will tell you nothing of the technology, ships, warfare, politics or religion of the time period. It focusses so much on Great Britain that it seems like there are barely any other nations involved. So what you are left with are summaries of acts of famous English pirates. It is competently acted and the special effects have been done well. But as a source of information it feels lacking and shallow.

This documentary-series is slow, over acted, inconsistent and with a lot of filler time that personally bored me. I thought I was going to see something similar to what Netflix did with the Samurai documentary, which I thought was an interesting and different approach to watching a documentary where the story was told in a very clear way and with novelistic elements that worked well to give it the feel of a TV series.

I enjoyed the show. I also like history and this documentary is a mix between drama and historical events. I think it's nicely filmed and acted.

My only complaint is that it's not historical correct. There are too much assumptions and 'artistical freedom' rather than facts. I don't say they're lying but it's halve the truth and you can get the wrong ideas about history. I also have my doubts about the 'Experts' who sound very dramatic and not neutral in my opinion.

I know some things are controversial these days but facts are facts and we all want to like pirates but it doesn't do right to history.

Edit: after watching more episodes its getting worse. Not only assumptions but also just wrong.

The list will be too long to write all the things wrong so I won't.

Pirates sailed mostly in small boats and some captured bigger ships. Most had a dozen cannons and 75 man. They needed fast ships not warships. You think they would attack British, Dutch or Spanish Navy with Galleons or Frigates with 80-100 cannons. And you also think they freed slaves. No, they sold them.

Probably 10% facts and 90% drama.