The Golden Age of Caribbean Pirates (DVD), Arts Magic, Documentary

I bought this DVD for only one reason: research. I'm a writer and about to be an authoress with the publishing of my first book later this year. I have several books that I want to publish in the coming years, and some are pirate-themed stories. So I wanted to get this DVD to learn about pirating. I have read several books on the subject, and I've found that a pirate's life was hard and, well, gross. This DVD concurs. There is one scene of a pirate's mouth with really bad gums and missing teeth that is not pretty, and there's another scene (just before it) that relates to the narrator's story of a description about the food aboard a pirate ship being infested with maggots—and they SHOW it! And I made the mistake of watching this while I had my dinner. Yuck! Still, it's an informative video. The only problem I had with the primary show (there's a supplemental interview with some naval guy who answers questions—mostly about the ships back then) was that the narrator's voice was often drowned out by the background music, which sucks because, when you're watching a movie to take notes and learn something, you kind of need to hear the narrator speaking as he delivers the information you seek to acquire! Oh, well. It's still a good DVD. It gave me background and even some ideas for what to include in my novels. I wouldn't suggest this for anyone expecting a “Pirates-of-the-Caribbean” viewing. It's not a movie. It's a documentary. It's a great resource for anyone who wants to learn about pirates—for the kid who has a paper to do or even someone who's going to, say, a Renaissance fair and want some ideas of pirates to go as. They even cover two female pirates (piratesses?). I had heard of them, but I HADN'T heard that they basically became men! (Though, I guess, they did function as females when, well, when the mood struck.) Anyhow, it was an interesting hour's viewing. For anyone who enjoys learning new things or has a report or just likes pirates, I recommend this DVD. (Oh, I gave it only four stars because of the loud background soundtrack that drowns out the narrator. It's annoying enough to me to take away a star.)