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"At The End Of The
Spear Is Peace" |
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Directed by Jim Hanon -
Written by Bill Ewing,
Bart Gavigan
Starring Chad Allen,
Louie Leonardo, Chase
Ellison
Distributed by Jungle
Films, LLC - 2006 -
108mins - Rated PG13 |
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Richard Propes' Review
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B+ |
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Dare to make contact! |
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In 1956, five
missionaries were speared to death in the Eastern rainforest of
Ecuador by members of the Waodani tribe. Known by anthropologists as
the most violent society ever documented, the Waodani lived by a code
of "Spear or be Speared." Their exact location uncharted, the Waodani
are discovered by this group of missionaries who desire to teach the
Waodani to live in peace. After making peaceful contact by air, the
five men land on a tiny sand strip convinced that their peaceful
interactions will continue, despite limited knowledge of the Waodani
language and their own commitment to nonviolence under any
circumstances.
The missionaries are speared when a tribesman, seeking mischief,
claims that the White men kidnapped a tribeswoman, Dayumae.
If the film were to end here, it would remain a powerful story of
faith and dedication. However, the story of "End of the Spear" doesn't
end with the end of the spear buried deep within the missionaries who
acted upon their faith.
What happens next is a journey beyond faith for the surviving families
of Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger
Youderian. It is a a journey about forgiveness beyond reason, hope in
utter darkness, love against nearly all odds.
It is, in particular, the family of Nate Saint who continue to reach
out to the Waodani even after the brutal murder. They eventually visit
the tribe, live with the tribe, and over a period of many years the
tribe begins to accept a path of peace and faith. Mincayani, the
tribal leader, becomes a grandfather to the grandson of the man he
once murdered, the tribe establishes peace with a long hated enemy,
and by the mid 1990's homicides among the Waodani had decreased by
90%. The grandson, Steve, moved his family to Ecuador to live among
the Waodani...all of this borne out of a single act of violence
against five peace-seeking missionaries.
"End of the Spear" began as an award-winning documentary called
"Beyond the Gates of Splendor." With the support of the families
involved and the Waodani tribe, this film is, perhaps, the closest
thing to a "true story" to come out of Hollywood in quite some time.
On a fairly modest $10 million budget, "End of the Spear" captured the
Grand Prize at the Heartland Film Festival in 2005 and begins a
limited nationwide release on January 20, 2006.
"End of the Spear" is destined to be a hard-sell at the box-office
with its obvious Christian leanings and "missionary" theme. On top of
this, the upcoming "The New World" has the current market cornered on
"exotic locales" and those seeking beautiful cinematography and exotic
locales are likely to head that direction before venturing into a film
such as this one.
Admittedly, a $10 million budget is on the upper-end of what I can,
with a straight face, consider an "independent" film, "End of the
Spear" still must be considered one of the best independent films
released in recent years. With relatively unknown actors, director Jim
Hanon captures beautifully the journey of the missionaries as the
learn, travel to Ecuador, dare to make contact with the Waodani, are
brutally murdered, and with the Waodani as they slowly begin to change
their ways. The cinematography of Roger Driskell is breathtaking, in
fact, a tad too breathtaking at times as the pristine imagery at times
dilutes the powerful impact of the film.
The script by Bart Gavigan (who also penned "Luther") and Bill Ewing
is simple, but largely effective. The film, at times, strays into
Disney territory with its simplistic approach to inspiration but it
largely goes for a more authentic humanity and quite often is quite
stark and frightening.
In particular, the scenes involving fighting and the attack on the
missionaries is, while not necessarily graphic, quite disturbing to
watch and earned the film a PG-13 rating.
Hanon makes the odd choice of using largely Latino actors in the
Waodani roles, however, it is doubtful that most would notice the
difference. Particularly effective is Louie Leonardo as Mincayani,
Christina Souza as Dayumae, and Jack Guzman as Kimo.
Chad Allen has the unique task of playing both Nate Saint and the
older Steve Saint, and handles both roles with tremendous grace and
balance. As the young Steve, in a tremendously heartbreaking
performance destined to be one of 2006's best performances by a young
actor, Chase Ellison is mischievous, loyal, innocent, and mesmerizing.
"End of the Spear" is not a perfect film, but it is a small gem
surrounded by Hollywood's usual lumps of coal. At a time when all we
seem to get are the standard fare of sequels, remakes, and techno crap
it's refreshing to see an original, well-made, story-driven drama
featuring real people living real lives.
While "End of the Spear" is, quite literally, a film about
missionaries spreading the gospel it is not, in fact, a preachy film.
Instead, it focuses more on universal themes of peace, hope, family,
and love.
This weekend, while everyone else is watching the latest horror flick
or Queen Latifah or the latest Disney flick try something
different...dare to make contact with "End of the Spear." |
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© Written by Richard Propes |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Richard
Propes' Comment
n/a
Jacob
Hall's Comment
n/a
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