Movie Review - The End of the Spear

In an effort to bring film into the arts discussion, this is a review of the above-referenced film, Every Tribe Entertainment's The End of the Spear. As the latest big-budget movie with an expressly Christian audience in mind, it seemed a good fit.

(By the way, this is a repost of an entry from my blog, The Sojourner Chronicle, so you may have already read it over there. If so, read it again. C'mon--you know you want to.)


The basic story is as follows: In 1956, a group of five missionaries penetrated the Ecuadorian jungles to bring the gospel to the reclusive Waodoni tribe. The Waodoni were feared by the Ecuadoran government and other natives because of their reputation for fierceness and violence--and, indeed, their culture was defined by a warrior ethos and a constant cycle of revenge killings. The missionaries (Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully) made contact, but were killed by the Waodoni. Through some extraodinary examples of forgiveness and surrender, several of the wives of the missionaries went to live among the Waodoni, and through their efforts much of the tribe was eventually converted to Christianity. Nate Saint's son, Steve, was eventually to return to the tribe as an adult and confront his father's killer, giving us yet another remarkable example of forgiveness.

A few words are in order before I go into the film itself. I am in a strange position regarding this film, because my sister works for the organization that the missionaries were part of: Mission Aviation Fellowship, an organization that supplies transportation, supplies, learning resources, and a host of other services, spreading the gospel and humanitarian aid throughout the world. I was familiar with the story before going in both from my sister (the plane the missionaries flew in has been rebuilt and sits in the MAF lobby) and from the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor, which is a much fuller treatment of the events. So I do have some attachments to the subject matter and am not fully objective. Just thought you ought to know.

So, did I like it? Yes. Is it a great film? Probably not as great as it could have been, but it is quite good.

I'll get the bad news out of the way first (and I feel bad even typing that, like I'm letting down the team or I'm going to make Kathie sad--sorry, sis). The film is worlds above most direct-to-DVD Christian releases, with good production values and better acting. My major complaint was that large swaths of the story were missing. I know that such a tale has to be edited for length, but some jump cuts were far too quick. It appeared that only a day or two after the slaughter of the men, their wives were ready to move their families into the tribe of their killers. The initial contact, tentative first communications, friendly meetings and attack based on misunderstanding all flew by incredibly quickly; had I not seen the documentary, I would have been somewhat lost. I could have done with far fewer shots of well-oiled tribesmen running endlessly through lush tropical rainforests (beautiful as the scenery was) and a bit more on the story.

The acting is universally just okay. No one really stood out, apart from Louie Leonardo as Mincayani, Nate Saint's killer, who is generally good. Chad Allen, playing both Nate and the adult Steve, tries his best, but he's just not given much script at all to work with--few characters are, and some (like the other missionaries) barely register. Most scenes are set like those in Hallmark specials, with stirring music and broad emoting meant to choke us up rather than relay depth and complexity. Kathie was worried I'd dislike the "emotional manipulation," and I did. The culmination of Steve learning the truth about Mincayani and his reaction slip by in a matter of minutes at the end of the film.

Now the good news: the movie gets better as it progresses and gives the characters some time to come into their own. Interestingly, this is definitely the Waodoni's movie--though the narrator and the missionaries are white Westerners, the conflict among the tribespeople as they are torn both by their own continued violence against one another and the utter confusion the missionaries' sacrificial deaths sows among them is the centerpiece. The tension between the traditional values the warriors (with Mincayani as their leader) hold to, and Kimo, the warrior who begins to adhere to the women's talk of the new message from Waegongi (the Waodoni word for the "Creator god") and refuses to lift a spear against his enemies, is the real conflict of this film.

And manipulative as the film may sometimes be, there's no denying the real power of the story it tells. The elements are mythic: five men laying down their lives for the gospel (one nice quote, from Nate Saint trying to tell his son why they will not defend themselves if the Waodnoi attack: "They're not ready for heaven. We are."). The wives going to live among their husbands' murderers. A people torn apart by a few men refusing to offer them violence. A son confronting his father's killer. It's heady stuff, and the sacrificial heart shown by so many, and the amazing changes their sacrifices wrought is a story you would reject as being too incredible if it were not true.

It was also interesting on at least a couple of sociological levels, neither of which I have the time to get into fully here. But the first thing I thought of was the entire fiction of anthropological relativism, the idea (decried to me by Dan, who knows of what he speaks) that native cultures are sacrosanct, never to be tampered with--unless, of course, they're doing something bad. The modern world criticizes Christianity for destroying native cultures, but saving girls from genital mutilation in Africa, or decrying the mistreatment of women in Middle Eastern cultures is okay. The Waodoni were trapped in a cycle of violence which was decimating them--they are now a thriving community thanks to the missionaries who showed them another way. Not to mention the innovations they've seen in modern medicine, education and--oh, yeah. Salvation. Yes, missionaries (past and present) have been too cavalier about their actions and have stomped over native cultural traditions that perhaps should have been afforded more respect in many cases--but the idea that ever introducing change in a culture as promoted by the modern secular mind is cruel--and hypocritical to boot.

The second thing that struck me was simply the presentation of a non-violence as such a transformative power. In this age of militant Christianity and a sense of "we have to fight to defend our own," the amazing effects produced by those who lay down their lives willingly is amazing. Not that all are called to this, or that defense is never an option, but no other action but self-sacrifice is likely to have gotten through to the Waodoni; after all, Christ's initial sacrifice without resistance changed the world...

So, should you go see The End of the Spear? Most definitely. Go find Beyond the Gates of Splendor, and you'll be further rewarded (in fact, if you can only see one, see Gates). It's just a good film, but it's an amazing story.

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Book Review - A Skeleton in God's Closet

When I was in college, one of my required classes was "Critical Thinking", a class dealing with logic and logical fallacies. The teacher liked to use belief in God, and at often Christianity as examples of a thought process full of logical fallacies. I can remember one case, the fallacy of Ignorance I believe, where he said that Theism is a classic case of this, because how can you prove that God does not exist?

I took the question to Jeff, a friend whose opinion I trusted. His reply was very simple and I've never forgotten it. He said, "Sure you could disprove it to a Christian. Produce the body of Jesus Christ".

I just finished a book, recommended to me by my local librarian, that deals with this very topic. Its a few years old, but it was interesting enough that I thought it worth reviewing here. The book is called A Skeleton in God's Closet, by Paul. L. Maier.


As you may have guessed by my introduction, and the title of the book, its a story about an archaeologist who is working at a dig at Rama, near Jerusalem, and finds a skeleton that all evidence points to as being that of Jesus. The book follows this man (a Christian, and the son of a pastor) as he works through the process of verifying the authenticity of his find, hoping each step of the way to find something to convince him - as a scientist - that it is false, and struggling to sort through how he should respond - as a believer - if it turns out to be true.

It also follows the response of the world, and the various Christian communities as word of the find is leaked. There is the full range of response, from liberal theologians who say "See? We always said that it was figurative!", to ultra-fundamentalists who think that the protagonist is the Antichrist himself. Somewhere in the middle is his father, struggling to help his local church deal with it all, and unsure of how to respond to his son.

As a book, the writing is pretty ordinary - nothing special. The story line is somewhat compelling in terms of the character and his journey, but made more compelling by the fact that its such an interesting subject. He does a great job of building the evidence and drawing in the reader, so that I found myself often thinking over what my response would be to such a discovery.

That's the real power of this book, I think - and what made me want to review it here. It not only tells a story, and entertains, but at the same time it makes a Christian reading it work through a certain aspect of their belief system. That, it seems to me, is an important part of "Christian Arts" - to do more than just entertain, but to challenge.

The truth is, that if we're going to prove my "Critical Thinking" teacher wrong, we must be willing to say that there are certain facts, that if proved would force us to abandon our faith. If not, then our beliefs aren't true belief, simply the way we want things to be. If someone did, in fact, ever find the physical remains of Jesus Christ and could prove them authentic, it would be our responsibility - as thinking believers - to change our beliefs.

The good news is that no one has, and I believe they never will. I don't want to give away the end of the book, so I'll leave it at that. Maybe you'll be tempted to pick it up and find out for yourself how it unfolds (or possibly just glance at the last chapter).

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