Alone Yet Not Alone

History buffs will enjoy this telling of the Leininger sisters - one of thousands of fabulous stories that erupted in the making of America. I felt this show effectively told the recorded history of the setting and relayed the message. However, it's losing a star simply because I think this was a low-budget film. The costumes aren't perfect, the acting is rough - take it for what it is. And what it is, is an ENTERTAINING STORY OF VERY EARLY AMERICANS!

I LOVE HOW EVEN THROUGH TRAGEDY, THIS MOVIES RESTORES HOPE IN GOD AND HIS ABILITY TO REMIND YOU THAT THOUGH LIFE BRINGS PAIN, GOD BRINGS LOVE.. THIS MOVIE IS A GREAT FAMILY MOVIE

The scenery was beautiful. But then again, nature is hard to fault even on an ordinary day.Where the movie succeeds: It is a Hallmark-style production. Poor attention to historical detail, but a great deal of attention paid to creating and maintaining a mediocre cast of characters among the pioneers, who are neither very brave nor too cowardly, just middle of the road. The development of the Native characters is similarly neglected. It is the movie version of a pre-teen novel. There is no great character development, just a predictable, middle of the road script, and a seemingly inevitable plotline.All of this does the actual historical facts such a disservice and that is where the movie fails.1. All the characters are shallow, and there are only a few moments where we can see a moment of epiphany, e.g. when the Native chief's younger son asks the lead female character to be his wife. Their discussion of their respective religious beliefs is very interesting, and I would have liked to have seen that dialogue and their friendship developed further and explored more fully. After all, holding on to one's Christian beliefs is the core value presented in the film. Also, in that scene, both characters are very credible and sensitively played by both actors. It is not a scene that we see in films about this period in history. Also, the scene where he bids her farewell and gives her a "token" of his affection - and it turns out to be a broach stolen from the lead female character's mother. There is some exploration of her emotional development at this point. Other than that, much of the rest of the film is rife with cliches and driven forward by the slow jalopy of mundane and highly predictable dialog. This is such a shame.2. By giving the subject matter such shallow treatment, the filmmakers essentially ignore the importance of this story and others like it. That is what is most irksome about this film. It is the story of survival amidst terrible hardship that deserves to be more properly explored. The critics who rated this movie highly did so because they liked the story of survival and the courage to hold on to one's convictions. And that is exactly what deserves a better platform than this particular production.3. By focusing only on the personal perspectives of the captive children and by not giving any screen time to the wider contextual issues - i.e. the native tribes were being driven out of their lands - the filmmakers create a lopsided factual basis for the film. I mean, if you actually consider the context of the early American settlers, what would you expect the native people to do but take up arms to protect their lifestyle and retain control of their resources? Secondly, the particular settlers in this film were seeking a place where they could live without persecution. And what method did they use to establish such a society? <<< drumroll >>> They used the time honored method of persecuting another population and driving them away. This is one of the bitter ironies of the history of the American settlers. It caused a great deal of pain to people of ALL tribes, the Native tribes and the settler tribes alike.Yet, by giving this very important topic a Hallmark style rendition, the filmmakers make the reprehensible mistake of creating the impression that the default perspective of the film is that the land belonged to the German settlers, and the native tribes were just needlessly being cruel and scalping the father and carrying off the children to work for and/or become a part of their tribes.And THAT is a real failure. Political correctness has a very limited utility. No one should sensor this movie. I myself will probably watch it again to see what else I can see in this film. However, let's leave political correctness aside and agree that factual correctness is of real importance. Don't make a movie if you cannot be bothered to represent the facts thoroughly and fairly. Failing to do so entails "teaching the viewers" a lopsided version of history. And that is exactly what the Hallmark version of this story is - a lopsided view of history.Movies are for entertainment, but they also have the power to establish cultural and political norms. NO FILM should be established the ridiculous perspective that a German family had every right to move to PA and set up house and not expect to have trouble from their neighbors, the Native tribes.Someone else should make another, better, more intelligently thought-out movie about the SAME subject and characters. And I would like to give that movie a five-star rating.FYI - I am a Christian/believer and conservative. As such, the proper treatment of this topic is important to me. Actually, just being a decent human being should be sufficient to make this topic important to just about anyone. It is about human beings, what we do to each other with our political conflicts, and the desire of each person to preserve their convictions.

A family friendly TRUE story that inspires all believers, at least it did me. Stumbled on this movie, can't get over how much my wife and I loved it.

We really enjoyed this movie! At the beginning I did not realize it was based on an actual true story. However, I was obviously very aware of the the history of the horrible mistreatment of Native Americans, the abduction of settlers children, scalping, and "governmental" b.s..With that said, this was a good movie! I appreciated the ways that both sides were portrayed, especially the kindness on both sides, but and the truth behind the fairness and also brutality.Not recommended for kids, but recommended!

My only setback is that the atrocities are only presented from one side. They should have shown some of what the colonists did to the American Indians as well. Other than that, it is a movie that every one could enjoy.

The story is an amazing one historically and faith wise. However it seems to have been not so well written and a somewhat amateur scripted/made and acted movie. HOWEVER felt it worthy to watch to get the story. It could've been done so much better. You could clearly see the wearing of wigs being used after the kids grew up etc. Another time..one minute after being rescued her hair is straight and another it's thick and curly and things like that. The acting was sporadically good, just ok, and/or terrible at times. They needed to have a better continuity staff member too and hope they had a Native American consultant. I was expecting this to show in their trials and captivity their faith was a big part of it, however although only lightly touched on it wasn't developed at all. In spite of all this I was glad I watched it.

It is pretty much historically correct and a very riveting story about a family some of whom were captured by indians. The indians look real and the clothing is of the time period, Penns cave is shown in a segment. The video plays well and gives some background also.

Some beautiful scenery but that’s about it. I have not read the book but the story could have been scripted better and was ‘soppy’ in places. Some of the acting was not that good either and some, including the lead actress, had more of a 21st century than 18th century feel in their persona. In the other direction what was a 16th century ship doing in the background in the first scene – could they find a more appropriate vessel? You might as well put the Titanic there.Considering most of the action took place among the Delaware it was disappointing that this culture was not portrayed in more depth. Only a brief line in the script on Delaware belief and then this was a Christianised version. There seemed to be a lot of stereotypes even though the film probably tried to avoid it. The enunciation of the English language was typical Hollywood for Native Americans. Why they did not use the Delaware language and subtitles I don’t know.One issue is the threat of burning female captives by the Delaware is pure nonsense, invented for the film (Christian martyrdom!) or perhaps fabricated in some captivity narrative. Male captives stood a chance of being burnt back at the village after the return of a war party at the want of female relatives of deceased relatives but even so adoption was more common. If a captive was holding a war party up or perhaps recaptured it is possible that a swift blow from a hatchet to head would be used to secure the safety of the returning party. Lighting a fire could be seen for miles by any pursuers.The Delaware village was in the middle of woods when it would be in the midst of extensive corn fields. John Armstrong actually drew a sketch of the village of Kittanning. The burning of women and children in their houses by Armstrong’s force was not depicted.It lacks the quality of the other big movie of the period, the 1992 version of the Last of the Mohicans. However, the same could be said for all subsequent movies depicting the French and Indian War period. Although there are some good costumes even among the Delaware there are a lot of rubbish ones including some poorly made approximations of those worn by Plains Indian women. Delaware women in this period would be almost entirely wearing cloth items. The other point is that Delaware appeared in the same costume all the time with no changes except for paint. The main actresses’ costumes were just plain weird, appearing to be male and then nothing like Delaware men’s clothing. Also people appeared quite often to be grubby whereas Delaware people regularly washed and took sweat baths.There were some awful wigs being worn and the main actresses’ hair and makeup was pure 21st century, especially after arriving back in Philadelphia. British infantry uniforms in this period had red breaches not white and so on.

The photograpy scenery and music were excellent. The theme song was hauntingly sung and amazingly rendered. Having read the book I found the end of the story very disappointing in its portrayal of the youngest daughter's return. The theme of the song & title could surely have been much more realized if that particular daughter's desire to meet the pastor and see the Bible that her father had read from had been the end. It was then she revealed that nothing she had heard from the Bible had been forgotten- even though she had forgotten her own language she had heard it in!

It was good ,but the lead adult actress looked too made up and unreal,on saying that her younger self was a really good actress and was much more believable.Based on a true story .

Really love this movie how a family kept strong in their faith against all odds

wonderful film and what a vehicle for evangelism. beautifully filmed and acted