Pocahontas

This film is one of my favorites from my childhood because of the strong female character that it contained.

Pocahontas was released in 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures and has a 6.7/10 on IMDB. The movie is loosely based on the Native American legend of Pocahontas who was a chieftains daughter at the time when Jamestown was established in America.

John Smith (Mel Gibson) is part of the Virginia company that is sent to the new world in search of new resources and, of course, gold. Once they arrive, the governor Ratcliffe (David Ogden Stiers) goes almost insane with greed as they search, in vane, for gold on the Powhatan tribes lands. The warriors are summoned by the chief to fight the pale faced demons that inhabit their lands all while Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) and John Smith are busy learning from each other and beginning to understand how each understands the others people to be.

During an unfortunate turn of events, one of Pocahontas' tribe members is shot and killed and John Smith is captured and sentenced to death for the crime which he didn't commit. In a last ditch effort to prevent a war which she knows they will not win, Pocahontas throws herself in between the executioner and Smith who she has grown to love. The movie ends on a bit of a sad and yet hopeful note which I never understood as a child but my recent re-watching has put it in perceptive for me.

The film has the required amount of meaningful music numbers that most Disney movies of this time had, honestly that is one of my favorite features of the older Disney movies but I also love the way that they made complex problems understandable for children.

Pocahontas is by no means historically accurate, however, for a children's movie it perfectly shows the prejudice that all adults feel towards that which they do not understand and for that I think it deserves the utmost praise. It perfectly described how people act in the face of the unknown as well as showing how they should have acted and what could have been achieved if they had of done so. This one will always be one of my favorites, not just for the message but also for the strong female character that wasn't afraid to speak up for what she believed in.

Thanks for reading xx