Nostalgia Nook: Squanto A Warrior’s Tale

Thanksgiving is my father’s favorite holiday. He feels it’s overlooked and not overblown. I like it was well. Everyone comes over and there’s a lot of food. Turkey, potatoes, rice, pies, etc. We talk, laugh, play games, and collapse in a turkey coma. Yet, there aren’t many Thanksgiving movies.
Besides the Peanuts Thanksgiving specials, the only other one that comes to mind is “Squanto, A Warrior’s Tale.” It aired on the Magical World of Disney during the 90s. I remember Michael Eisner introducing it while wearing this awful sweatshirt.

Warning, a cornucopia of SPOILERS!


The movie starts in North America, where Squanto (Adam Beach) is marrying his childhood sweetheart Nakooma (Irene Bedard). But the honeymoon is short lived as the white man arrives. They trade with Squanto’s tribe and ask for some men to come to act as interpreters. But it’s a trap! The white men take Squanto and his friends back to England, much to the dismay of the token One Nice White Guy.

Over in England, the Native Americans are forced to fight bears for the entertainment of the masses. Squanto escapes and is taken in by some monks (led by Mandy Patinkin). They teach him English and how to farm. He eventually makes his way back to America, where he learns disease has decimated his tribe (and killed his wife). Squanto is taken in by a neighboring tribe just as the Pilgrims arrive, lost and confused. He befriends them and helps them survive, leading to the first Thanksgiving.

For a movie dealing with American history, it’s pretty good. There are probably liberties taken, but this is true of most historical works short of documentaries. Movies still have to entertain, so certain things are made to be more “exciting” than they were.

But otherwise, it’s a good movie to get you in the holiday mood.

Or do you have another Thanksgiving movie to do that? If so, tell me!

Next month: “The Christmas List”