From left: Kalani Queypo, Raoul Trujillo and Tatanka Means star in Saints & Strangers. Photo from National Geographic Channel
The Saints & Strangers mini-series debuted on the National Geographic Channel on Sunday night to favorable reviews. The two-part film follows arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620 and their dealings with the tribes that were already living in present-day Massachusetts. The cast features Native actors in three prominent roles and they speak almost all of their dialogue in the Western Abenaki language. “This was a huge challenge,” Jesse Bowman Bruchac, a fluent speaker who trained the cast in the language, told National Geographic News. The Abenaki dialogue is subtitled throughout the film. The cast includes Tatanka Means, Kalani Queypo and Raoul Trujillo. Queypo portrays Squanto, who acted as a translator between tribes and the new arrivals. Squanto learned English when he was taken into slavery in the early 1600s. The series concludes tonight. Get the Story:
Review: ‘Saints & Strangers,’ a Thanksgiving Story Told in a Native Tongue (The New York Times 11/21)
In ‘Saints & Strangers,’ a noble attempt to tell Thanksgiving’s grimmer truths (The Washington Post 11/20)
‘Saints and Strangers’: Two New Mexicans star in the National Geographic movie (The Albuquerque Journal 11/20)
Nat Geo movie tells gritty Pilgrims' tale (AP 11/19) Also Today:
Learning to Speak Across the Ages with Wampanoag Language Program (The Vineyard Gazette 11/19)
In Plymouth, Mass., the Thanksgiving story takes on a new reality (The Washington Post 11/19)
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