America The Story Of Us - Rebels

In this first blog post I will be reviewing and discussing the first episode of the American history series America The Story Of Us. This episode, "Rebels", paints a portrait of life from the early  British colonization of  America in Jamestown and Plymouth through the battles of Lexington and Concord.

The program is narrated by Liev Schreiber, who captures the feelings of the people in colonial America with his tone and powerful language. In the early part of the program he demonstrates this, talking about the colonial-Indian relationships. Showing the hardships and the cruelty of early life in the colonies and the complex alliance with northern Indian tribes.  

The timeline follows that from 1607, when English adventures land in Virginia and found the small settlement of Jamestown. Soon the timelines moves to the arrival of the first pilgrims and the Plymouth landing. Soon the thirteen colonies have come into shape, as Dutch merchants, Swedish settlers, and British adventure-seekers come to America and transform well-to-do towns into  bustling cities such as Boston, Charleston, and New York. Closing with pre-revolutionary events such as The Boston Massacre and The Boston Tea Party. Finally setting the stage for the revolution with "the shot that was heard around the world", the battles of Lexington and Concord.

On a scaled rating the program is brilliant and allows the viewer to understand that life in pre-revolutionary America was cultural, diverse, and troubled by British greed. Rotating around the coming revolutionary ideals (The Delectation Of Independence and Common Sense), the episode sets the stage for it's precedent, The American Revolution.