For any of you who haven't heard of it...which is probably a lot of you, since I only saw two advertisements for it, both on the National Geographic Channel...it is based around five missionaries that were killed by the Waodani tribe in the Amazon Rainforest, but what happens mostly AFTER. True story. It didn't get good press and what I've read from Critics, they've hated it (which is a good indication that I will probably like it). They say it's too "preachy". God was mentioned only a few times and it was called "Waigongi", not God. God forbid a movie talks about any form of "God" . The movie was really well done. Most of the acting was done by native people from Panama and was filmed in Panama, so as not to do damage to the Amazon rainforest. What's even better? Half of the profits are going to help indeginous people all over the world Go see it! You won't be disappointed!
I thought "End of the Spear" was a rather sub-par, made-for-TV-quality film. I won't claim I wasn't entertained, but, with the exception of Chad Allen's skilled performance, the film tended heavily toward the amateur, the direction could have been much better, and I thought the climactic scene was completely spoiled by introducing a supernatural element into what could have been a poigient human moment. The musical score tended toward the melodramatic, and many of the characters were two-dimensional. Not a bad rental, I suppose, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone who isn't religiously inclined pay full price.
Most of the actors in the film were actually from a tribe in Peru. These weren't professional actors, which I think adds to the charm of the piece. I also didn't think it was THAT heavily religious, at all. I highly recommend supporting the film, simply because a percentage of the profits go to supporting indigenous peoples.
I did an Internet search to see if I could find out where the money is going, exactly. I was unable to find any specifics, but it appears that the money is actually going toward the conversion of the indigenous peoples to Christianity. Just an FYI, in case it interests you. As someone who was once a member of a Fundamentalist Christian religion, I perhaps recognized the language of conversion more than someone who hasn't been heavily exposed. It's actually interesting to me that different people perceived the religion/conversion component of the film so differently. I think that using the indigenous peoples could have been very charming, but the artificiality of the script, the bizarre shot set-ups and the 3rd rate direction in general made everything look false to me. Again, this may be, at least in part, my bias as a former fundamentalist Christian, because my Athiest friend, while annoyed by the angel thing toward the end of the film, found the majority of the rest of the film much more watchable than did I.
I just got back from Ecuador(where this movie is set), and after spending time with indigenous people and their shamans, i am greatly dismayed to hear that this money is going to convert them. With the people behind this film, i can assure you it wont be used to help them. The damage done and still being done to indigenous around the world by so-called "people of God" is impossible to describe. They divide communitys, systematicly destroy customs, bury priceless knowledge about native medicine, spread disease, rearange famillys, convince native people that many of their oldest and most revered practices are evil, and in Ecuador, oil companies are never far behind the missionarys. From what i've read( i havent seen the film and wont untill i can rent it), this is a disgusting piece of Christian propaganda that aknowleges none of this.
