5/5 Adam Beach is a five star actor
  by happyone (USA)
Whether or not this movie depicts true accounts of Sqanto's life, there is one truth that I must state....

Adam Beach is a wonderful actor! His performance alone is worth watching this movie...which I also enjoyed. I hope to see more of this talented actor.

Great Job Mr. Beach. Bravo!

5/5 not factually perfect, but a great teaching tool
  by M. Bauer (Colorado)
If you are looking for a historically precise biography of Squanto's life, this movie is not the place.
If you would like to show kids 8 years and up how life was for the early New England settlers and Native Americans and teach them a valuable lesson of acceptance, this is a five star movie.

I've used this movie for several years with my fourth grade class. After the movie, I have them highlight differences between the movie and this short biography (updated with research published in the Nov/Dec issue of Native Peoples magazine by Richard Williams):

One day in 1605, a young Patuxet boy named Tisquantum (later known as Squanto) and his dog were hunting when they saw a large ship off the coast of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The people on the ship came to trade with the Native Americans (Indians). After trading, the ship's captain George Weymouth invited Squanto, his friend Samoset, and three others to board their ship.

Once aboard the ship, the five boys were chained and taken to England so investors in the shipping company could see Indians. In England, Squanto was forced to live with Sir Ferdinand Gorges, who owned the Plymouth Company. Sir Gorges taught him English so Squanto could teach ship captains his Native American language. In 1614, Squanto was brought back to America to guide, interpret, and help map the New England coast.

Back in America for a short while, Squanto was soon kidnapped a second time, along with 27 other Indians. They were taken to Malaga, Spain and were sold as slaves for about $25 apiece. Local priests learned about their fate, freed them from the slave traders, and baptized them in Christianity. Squanto found his way back to England, and he returned to America in 1618.

Squanto's return home did not last long. He was recognized by one of Gorges' captains, captured a third time, and sent back to England as Gorges' slave.

Gorges promised to free Squanto if he would go back to America with Thomas Dermer and finish mapping the New England coast. In 1619 Squanto returned to his village and found it deserted. He learned that his entire tribe had died from diseases (such as smallpox) brought over by European settlers.

Since Squanto was alone after gaining his freedom, he moved in with the neighboring Wampanoag tribe. This tribe was ruled by Chief Massasoit. In 1920 the Pilgrims made their famous voyage and landed at Plymouth Rock. They settled at the deserted Patuxet village. Squanto made friends with the Pilgrims and taught them how to survive in this new land.

On March 22, 1621 Chief Massasoit sent Squanto to the Pilgrims and they signed a peace treaty between the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims. Squanto became popular. He tried to overcome Massasoit and become the leader of the Wampanoags. Squanto lost and became less popular. A year and a half later, Squanto died of smallpox while on a trading expedition. His death ended the Patuxet lineage.

This movie can be used as an excellent teaching tool, and is therefore strongly recommended.


5/5 good movie
  by BleuHoney (R S, WY)
My husband uses this movie for his Social Studies Class, it says what he needs it to say.

4/5 A great clean movie.
  by Skeptic (Nashville, TN United States)
A great, entertaing movie. Pay not attention to these "history buff" people. Not everything has to be historically accurate. Just enjoy the movie - that is why they are made.

3/5 Soaring Hawk
  by C. A. Luster (Burke, VA USA)
This is a very entertaining Disney movie. Unfortunatly Disney feels the need to slap a true life title on some movies to associate them with real people and so I only gave it three stars when it should have been four or five. Just like they did with the Pocohontas movie. Both are mostly fiction and have nothing to do with the real stories. Squanto just like Pocohontas was real, this movie's only likeness to Squanto's true life is being befriended by monks (not Spanish though as they should have been), and finding his village wiped out from disease after years of being away. The rest is mostly fiction made up by writers hailing from the old Westerns where Native Americans and Europeans fought all the time. I guess they thought that would be more exciting. Personally I say Disney, either tell the true story or call it another name. Call this Soaring Hawk or some other name, just not Squanto and then it becomes acceptable to all. Then it is just a fictional story, since it mostly is any way. On that level it is in fact an entertaining movie. Good DVD with good replayability if you can get past this not being the true story of Squanto.