Customer Reviews

The Donner Party

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I watched this when it was on PBS and I finally understood what reviewers mean when they use the word "gripping." It's suspensful, engaging, and shocking. And educational. Of course, we all know the story already. At least we think we do, but this documentary will tell you more of the story that you ever thought you wanted to know, and presents the evidence in an unbiased manner to allow the viewer to decide whether to condemn the unthinkable acts. Make sure you have a blanket handy; it'll make you really feel the cold.

It is hard to find words to describe this that haven't been used in many earlier reviews --- "haunting, mind-blowing, chilling," all come to mind.

Suffice it to say, everyone of us has had a moment in life where we could make the right choice or the wrong choice. All too often, making the wrong choice leads to more wrong choices. Most of the time, the results are unfortunate, and sometimes they are perilous. Rarely are the results as grisly as the fate that befell the Donner Party.

As another reviewer noted, these were not bumbling fools done in by their own incompetence. In fact, many members of the Donner Party were intelligent men & women who really should have known better. When sound decisions really counted, they consistently made the wrong choice, and these series of bad choices now means that most of us remember the Donner Party alone out of the thousands of wagon trains that went west in the 19th century.

It is an awesome documentary that will not be easily forgotten. The narrative & the music only augment the eerie, depressing quality of the production. Ultimately, it leaves all of us with that nagging question: what would we have done in that same situation?

Like most people raised in the west I had heard the story of the Donner Party many times, though badly and inaccurately told. In fact, the Donner Party was in many cases the butt of many a bad joke rather than the historic and tragic story that should have been told.

I blundered onto the Burns' Donner Party documentary on my local PBS station and was immediately corrected of years of misconception.

Here is the story, not of a bunch of bumbling fools who planned things badly and suffered the consequences, but rather of a group of well-meaning pioneers who were doomed by the benighted vision of an enterprising fool named Lansford W. Hastings. Bad information led to bad decisions and ultimately to the most tragic of consequences.

A marvelous story of the indomitable human spirit and beautifully narrated by David McCulloch (author of Truman, John Adams), The Donner Party will be a haunting addition to the most complete western video collection. This one can absolutely not be missed.

The fate of Donner Party is one of the most human stories I know. Everyone should have a deeper understanding of what happened at truckee lake in those horrible months to these unfortunate families. Ric Burns' documentary is one I have revisited many times.

The American Experience: The Donner Party Maybe you think you know the essentials about what befell the Donner Party as it tried to fight its way across the Sierra Nevada range in 1846, but chances are this masterful documentary will surprise you with little-known facts even as it freezes the blood in your veins. A superb job all around.

I first saw this incredible documentary as a child & for several nights afterwords I had terrible nightmares! This is one of the finest PBS documentaries I've ever seen, & it's also one of the most grusome tales in American history. While dozens of books have been written about the Donner Party, I believe this is the only documentary that's been made about it so far. The story is told through eyewitness accounts that make you feel like a member of the doomed wagon train. What's even more interesting is how the weary survivors rebuilt their lives after returning to "civilization". If you want compelling, horrifying, & unforgettable entertainment, this is the documentary to get!

Outstanding video that tells the tragic story of the ill-fated Donner Party and their attempt to move West in 1846. The story is tragic in the sense that just about anything that could go wrong, did go wrong for these people. I bought this video to show in my history classes several years ago and I still have not tired of it. More importantly, my students, year in and year out, become engrossed in the story of what people will do to survive and perservere and they watch and pay attention to the story. The descriptions of what the suvivors did to survive can be a bit graphic, but not overly so.

The Donner Party documentary is a first class history lesson in our pioneer forebears and the hardships they endured in our nation's manifest destiny.

This is fascinating for the true historian and the amateur historian. Though it is based on fact the humanity resonates in every minute. It is a story that outdoes any fictional movie I have seen. Some of the hightlights are the readings of the letters of the people who lived through it and what became of the people who lived through the ordeal. The subject of cannabilism is handled without sensationalism. One finds themself thinking would they be able to do what these people had to do: would I become a hero or a demon, would my TRUE nature be good, bad or simply human?

My father is a high school history teacher and he shows this to his students who while fascinated by the subject of cannabilism find themselves learning in spite of themselves.

My deepest thanks to the producer Ric Burns.

Cynthia C.Cameron

this movie is a really good documentary. It's very detailed and tells you everything about the Donner Party and the horrible things that they went through. It might be a little boring for high school students because it's not a real life movie; meaning that it has old pictures and some scenery. However, once all of the horrible ordeals start to happen these students become very interested in it. I personally love this movie as a history teacher.

If you don't know the story, you need to see this film. If you do, you need to see this film. Haunting, historical, beautifully acted (voice-overs). You will not soon forget this one.