“Filmed on location in Europe and Plymouth Plantation and featuring dialogue taken from original source material, DESPERATE CROSSING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE MAYFLOWER catapults viewers back to the 1600s. Actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company join members of the Massachusetts Wampanoag tribe in creating dramatic period reenactments that bring to life the Pilgrims’ harrowing journey and first year of survival.” https://watch.historyvault.com/specials/desperate-crossing-the-untold-story-of-the-mayflower
I really like this movie, and watch every year. It doesn’t romanticize the Pilgrims and the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation. It seems to be as accurate as you can get with the information available. It’s a docu-drama and I think very well done.
Here are a review on the show, not as impressed as I am. This is from Caleb Johnson, who is not only an expert on the Mayflower, but a descendent from several lines of the Mayflower passengers:
“Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower covers the Pilgrims in England, Holland and the first year at Plymouth. Using Shakespearen actors and actual Wampanoag, this documentary switches between reenactments and historian “talking heads” (that include the likes of Nathaniel Philbrick and Jim Baker). It is not perfect, of course, and has been criticized for various things (such as rewriting the words of William Bradford and presenting them as if they were actual quotes; some rather simplistic and childish dialogue–a sermon that starts “religion is the best, and the corruption of it the worst”; and for babbling on about Dorothy Bradford’s supposed “suicide”). But Lone Wolf Productions and the History Channel have put together a solid documentary none-the-less, second only in quality to the more recent PBS documentary, “The Pilgrims.”” http://mayflowerhistory.com/bookstore-documentaries
moondancepages.com 