Sign of the Beaver (Full Screen), The

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Based on the Newbery Honor novel The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare, this 1997 period piece set in colonial Massachusetts, circa 1768, centers on the luckless Hallowell family, whose plans to move to a new homestead in Maine are thwarted when a guide cannot be secured to transport Anne Hallowell (Annette O'Toole) and the younger children to join her husband Will (Keith Carradine) and older son Matt (Brendan Fletcher). Taking a gamble, Will leaves the 13-year-old boy in charge of the cabin and land, promising to return with the rest of the clan in six or seven weeks. Bravely, Matt (equipped with a rifle, a copy of Robinson Crusoe, and an heirloom pocket watch) busies himself with work and acquaintances, including Attean, a member of the Penobscot tribe who teaches him Native American culture and the lay of the land in exchange for learning to read the “white man’s words.” Meanwhile, the rest of the Hallowells struggle through scarlet fever and other obstacles that stretch Matt’s solitude from weeks into months. Sporting a beautiful DVD transfer, the disc also includes brief featurettes on Speare and frontier Maine, as well as four segments designed to initiate family discussion. Recommended.

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