End of the Spear

The End of the Spear is based on a true story about missionaries that travel into the jungles of Ecuador and make contact with tribes that have never been influenced by the civilized world. The expected friction occurs, leading to tragedy and salvation, misdeeds and redemption for everyone involved.

Interesting Release Issues...
There are so many reasons why this movie should not have made a national release, but at the same time, I'm glad for them. The filmmakers have no experience to speak of, and the end result shows it (I'm sorry to say). However, the strong christian theme pushed it forward into a popularity not many religious movies can easily achieve.

This movie, being a small budget piece ($10 million) should have gone for a gradual national release, to build word of mouth and spend less money, but the fact that the film isn't that great means word of mouth would have worked AGAINST their profits, not FOR them. So, they went wide release, they'll make their money back, but the quality of the film prevented them from making huge profits.

Who woulda thunk it - a movie that's not good - not making that much money. What world are we in?

The thing is, most christian-themed movies explode (The Passion of the Christ) or go straight to video, never seeing the front door of a theater, much less being screened. It all depends on how avant-garde they are.

Yeah, but what about the MOVIE, man!?

For a religiously motivated film (as opposed to an artistically/financially motivated film with religious overtones, e.g., The Messenger), this movie was EXCELLENT, especially considering their budget restraints, being an independent project filming in an exotic land.

The story was just tugging at me the whole time, the drama was intense, as these people's entire way of life was being turned on its head. I thought the story was much more powerful from the point of view of the tribesmen than the christians, how their lives were being altered so radically by these new people with airplanes and guns.

Another thing that made me shy away from the white people in this movie is that they were HORRIBLE actors. Especially the kid. He's reminds me of that kid that played Anakin in Star Wars: Episode I, only way worse. I already went on a soap box about child acting, so I'll spare you that in this review. Let's just say, thank GOD this is an independent film, and they get some wiggle-room on talent....otherwise......ooohh.....this would be one funny, mean review.

So, I stuck to watching the movie through the eyes of the tribesmen, how they interact with these new people, how it upsets their delicate balance of life. However, that makes for a more tragic tale, how the thousands of years of tradition are washed away by the western world. Near the end, a few of the characters that were amazingly beautiful, proud, strong, healthy tribesmen are wearing baseball caps and button-up shirts....they are mere shadows of their former selves.

If this story (no matter how true) had emphasized bringing christianity to another culture, instead of bringing a CULTURE to another culture (that is - overrunning a tribal way of life with western ideals and customs) I would be MUCH happier with it. The drama was intense the entire time, and it could have gone either way, until the very end.

(I'm spoiling credit sequence, after the movie footage, here - be warned)
At the very end, the real life version of the child actor, who grows up and ends up bringing one of the main tribesmen to the states with him, recounts some of his adventures with the tribesman in the western world. He talks about "oh, he just thought it was so great that we can drive up to people's houses, and they'll just give you food that is already warm and cooked - it's great!" and the people in the theater laughed. They LAUGHED at him for not knowing our ways.

STUPID TRIBESMAN! Hahahahaha! You don't know what a DRIVE-THRU is, wow! That's so cute!

And there was more about how his wife didn't like him coming back to the tribe overweight and lazy, and it was greeted by a similar reaction.

We think we've got it soooo good. We think we're soooo much smarter than the previously healthy, independent tribesman that would rather have a mcdonalds now and magic "food-houses" (grocery stores) instead of continue his way of life. Sad if you ask me, and even sadder that we make light of it.

In the end
So, I left this movie with a bitter taste in my mouth, after what would have been a very dramatic tale of converging worlds. So, that's how I leave you. Crazy, insensitive audience with no idea what it means to see a tribesman wearing a john-deer hat, and how that upsets a very long line of traditions that we would defend with our lives if they were our own. Pheh.