Never Take No Cutoffs

"Never take no cutoffs, and hurry along as fast as you can." Such was the advice of twelve-year-old Virginia Reed, as she chronicled her family's survival as members of the Donner Party.

Although I have twice read George R. Stewart's "Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party," and am familiar with the details -- the harrowing journey, the diaries, the hope and despair -- I was moved by last night's "The Donner Party," a documentary written and directed by Ric Burns, and featured on PBS's American Experience. While the account wasn't new, the treatment was, and it was the actors' portrayal of the Reeds, Donners and Breens (all in voiceover -- we never actually saw them) that made the film feel fresh.

The interviews (some new, some archived), too, were touching: Wallace Stegner (who died in 1993) said of the story, "Oh, it's got everything. It's a Greek tragedy. It's a great test of human character. Some people came through it heroically and some of the people in that party were far from heroes and they got worse as the conditions got worse, so that it was as if the sheep and the goats, the blessed and the unblessed, sorted themselves out against a background of terrible hardship and tragedy."

At 90 minutes, the film is just right -- although I would have gladly watched more.