Pocahontas rescue not significant

Story of Pocahontas saving Smith missing from Jamestown movieSmith is shown being captured by Indians and taken to Powhatan, who ruled over a chiefdom that had about 15,000 people. But no mention is made of the chief's daughter, Pocahontas, throwing her body over Smith's to save his life as Powhatan was about to club him to death.

"The Pocahontas-rescuing-John Smith story is certainly the most dramatic and well-known of the early incidents in Virginia history, but frankly people have questioned whether it happened at all," senior curator Thomas Davidson said after a screening Wednesday for reporters.

If it did, it's not as significant as other events portrayed in the film, which had to be kept short enough in order to be shown to visitors every 30 minutes, Davidson said.