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Mincayani is troubled after he spears a missionary. Photo courtesy of Every Tribe Entertainment.
This incredible story of death and forgiveness seems like fiction, but actually happened 50 years ago, as LIFE magazine at the time documented with photos depicting the aftermath of the murder of five American missionaries in an Ecuadorian jungle. The men were making their first contact with a violent tribe then called the Aucas. After their bodies were recovered, the missionaries’ wives forgave the murderers, with one of them and a sister of one of the men making contact with the tribe and moving in with them. With the help of a Waodani (as the tribe called itself) woman, the women taught the people that God wanted them to give up their spear attacks and live in peace.
The film is told from the standpoint of the man who led his tribesmen in spearing the missionaries, the warrior Mincayani (Louie Leonardo). Tribe members are confused when the white women and a child come to live with their tribe and teach them the peaceful ways of their Christian faith. The Waodani had been such a violent tribe, spearing one another over the smallest of quarrels, that their tribe was on the verge of extinction when the missionaries arrived.
There are also three documentaries about this story, so the filmmakers were aware that they had to walk the thin line between the demands of drama and the facts. Centering on the relationship that developed between Steve Saint, son of slain missionary Nate Smith, and Mincayani, this is a powerful testimony to the miracle of Christian love. Chad Allen plays the grown Steve Saint (and also his father), who was just eight when his father was killed. During the boyhood sequence he wonders why Mincayani holds back from the Christian activities, little aware that the Indian was worried because according to his culture it was the task of the son of a slain man to avenge the killing of a father. How all this is resolved in a dramatic confrontation in the river where the five missionaries died, and how the Waodani grow in their newfound faith makes for a powerful viewing experience.
For those who want more, three documentaries on DVD with a lot more of the details are available from Vision Video: Beyond Gates of Splendor (made by the same people as End of the Spear); Through Gates of Splendor, based on widow Elizabeth Elliot's personal memoir and including home movies of the five martyrs; and The Jim Elliot Story, an animated children's biography. These and the feature film would make a fine addition to a church library. (Go to the Vision Video Web site and type in the title for ordering information.)
—Edward
McNulty
 Tale of two peoples
The New World
(DVD. Rated PG-13. Directed by Terrence Malick, New Line productions. Running time: 2 hours, 15 min.)
A Terrence Malick film is never easy to watch, his slow-paced style not suiting many movie-goers used to fast-paced action films that allow no time for thinking (nor require it). Based on the Pocahontas-Captain John Smith legend, this is a lyrical visual meditation on the hopes for a New World of those who first came to Virginia's shores 400 years ago. Because of such a wide cultural divide, the Eden-like land became something else, as warfare between the "Naturals," as the English called the Native Americans, and the settlers disrupted the peace. But before those tragic outbreaks of warfare, Malick shows us the wonder and the excitement of two peoples meeting for the first time with no knowledge of what would come later.
Listen carefully to the off-screen thoughts voiced by Capt. Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher), and soak in the visual beauty of the virgin land, contrasting with the grubby existence that the gold-seeking settlers sink into. The film begins with the Indian princess offering a prayer to the Spirit, and soon follows with Captain Smith and his thoughts as he and a small crew make their way by boat up the river toward a large Native American settlement. Smith longs for a world where the old class differences will no longer exist and there will be enough abundance so that all will share in its prosperity. It is a beautiful vision that owes much to the Bible, but as in New England a few years later, it is overcome by the flaws in human nature.
In Virginia, Smith's vision soon is overtaken by the well-founded suspicion of the natives and the corrupting greed of the white encroachers. True to the legend familiar to all Americans, Smith is captured, and his life saved at the last minute by the intervention of Pocahontas. Their romantic interlude (though not actually a love relationship) is short lived, with Smith sent to explore regions further north. Now an outcast from her own people, Pocahontas tried to mediate and keep the peace between the two now-warring groups. She does marry, but it is to John Rolfe (Christian Bale), who eventually transports her to the London court of the British king, where she is well received.
The film is more of a meditation on the hopes and dreams of our ancestors as contrasted with the clash of cultures than it is a retelling of the old story. The film requires a disciplined, determined effort from the viewer, but provides a richly rewarding experience for those willing to make the effort. Malick's film could also lead one to take another look at the Disney version of the story, which would show that despite that studio's habit of prettying up reality, there are some truly frightening scenes, made all the more so by the exquisite animation, depicting the savageness in the heart of all humans, native and European. The makers of both films provide a memorable look at the chasm that exists between human (and divine) aspirations and what we humans actually do.
— Edward
McNulty
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