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Retrospective Film Review
Pocahontas (1995) • 30 Years Later — technical proficiency masks a limp tale of romance
An English soldier and the daughter of an Algonquin chief share a romance when English colonists invade 17th-century Virginia.
It’s difficult to discuss starry-eyed fictional interpretations of Pocahontas without feeling the need to immediately dive into the true story behind this woman, her life, and her untimely death. At the same time, no one would expect an 81-minute Disney film intended for children to depict these events with anything resembling pinpoint accuracy in their dramatisation of Pocahontas’ interactions with the Englishman John Smith. What’s more surprising is not that the film muddles up some basic facts, but that it’s well-intentioned in its depictions of the natives and colonists.
The love story between Jamestown colonist John Smith (Mel Gibson) and Powhatan member Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) is framed as a point of connection between two groups in constant conflict, with colonialism’s malevolent aspects personified by Governor Ratcliffe…
