A challenging journey of faith and exploration
Added 11/12/2009
This is an excellent film about the history of our giant neighbor to the North, Canada. It is also a look at what happens when European and native cultures intersect, with much misunderstanding on both sides. Thus it is of interest as a history or anthropology film, but it also tells a very interesting story. The film tells the story of a 17th century French Jesuit missionary who is sent to the Canadian wilds to a remote Huron mission. He is accompanied and lead by a group of Algonquin natives who are very ambivalent about the white explorers, trappers, and priests. As the journey up the St. Lawrence River progresses, the priest is put to many tests of his faith. He is accompanied by a young French explorer who also begins to question the Euro-centric world view of his people as he comes to know the Algonquin culture, spiritual beliefs, and as he falls in love with an Algonquin woman. This sensuous love affair challenges the parents of the Algonquin woman for they have many prejudices about the intelligence and intent of white men. It also challenges the Jesuit priest since it stimulates suppressed sexual desires. The priest is contrasted with his young European partner who is more open to the influence of the native peoples and is not focused on interpretation of life experiences primarily through Roman Catholicism. A primary strength of the film is the excellent characterization of the native Canadian characters which reveals them to be fully human with fully human assets and faults. There are very frightening and violent scenes when the Algonquians and the two Europeans encounter an Iroquois war party and are taken prisoners. Beside the Algonquians and Iroquois, the Huron are also part of this story of culture meets culture, faith meets faith. The balance and judgment in the script and acting is welcomed. Lothaire Blutheau is excellent as the priest, a man who is transformed by his journey and yet retains the central core element of his faith. Aden Young is his handsome apprentice who gradually becomes integrated into the native culture as their journey continues. Sandrine Holt is excellent as the native young woman who loves and is loved by the young Frenchman. August Schellenberg is also excellent as her father and the chief, a wise man with wide experience who also changes as he encounters both European and Christian cultural values. However, the beautiful and dramatic landscape of Canada is also a star in this film which reveals to us what this natural wonder was like 4 centuries ago.
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Absolutely brilliant!
Added 10/8/2009
A brilliantly realistic voyage back into time. This magnificent film is the polar opposite of the usual politically corrected dumbed down Hollywood drivel and propaganda, like for instance the idiotic "Dances With Wolves".
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Black but enthralling movie
Added 9/12/2009
This was a dark dark movie from an emotional standpoint but very well done. A little violent but those were violent times. I am very glad I bought it and recommend it highly for those interested in this time period of North America.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Best Indian movie around
Added 4/24/2009
This movie came out at the same time as Academy Award winning "Dances with Wolves"... but is ten times better with no Hollywood pretensions. Billy Two Rivers is the most realistic Indian Chief I have ever seen, the dialogue and intrigue about different faith, culture, and religion is awesome, the scenery so fantastic and real- you shiver in your seat watching the bitter cold Canadian north. Then there is the pounding fights and sex scenes. Unbelievable! This should be a classic in everyone's video library
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Finally a Psychological Portrait of Missionaries Among Indians
Added 2/1/2009
The stark landscape and attendant violence might make this seem real for it's time, but the Indian characters are the same stereotypes we always see coming from Hollywood. It is the portrayal of a missionary that makes this a different film. Nice scenery even in a film which is not well digitized for today's high definition. You will need a warm blanket while watching canoes moving through so much ice and snow. This movie reveals human cruelty in a harsh landscape. It is set among incidents of violence between groups of Huron and Iroquois peoples during the early contact with Europeans. The film's dozens of Native characters are lightly to moderately developed in contrast to the main character a Jesuit missionary. While he is the main character he is portrayed with a cold aloofness which is fitting his personality, historical role and the landscape setting. Directed and framed with a touch of abstraction it is the horror which makes this story human not some warm fuzzies. The Jesuit Black Robe is sent among North Eastern tribes as a human sacrifice by his superiors. This is a self fulfilling prophesy revealed through revelations, past and present of his self loathing and in flashbacks of his mother's prophesy. Black Robe is a psychologically dark film which floats the usual raft of Indian stereotypes to a deeper more graphic contemporary stomach turning level. However murderous or sexually unashamed the Natives seem they are bluntly, satisfyingly human in contrast to the starch collared priest who has forever lived in mental torture but never had a minute of pleasure in his life. Or perhaps he has, we can only guess, when we see him beating Mia Culpa's on his back with tree branches following his voyeuristic sexual incident in the woods. Finally arriving at the abandoned mission where he is assigned he immediately gathers an Indian following by telling one less lie than his recently deceased priestly predecessor. Truth being such a rare thing to them we know Indians flock to any white man who shows the slightest improvement regarding the forked tongue issue and he instantly sets about baptizing them all. Should we mention he is greatly helped in this conversion by children who are dying enmasse from fever. The strength of this film lies in looking more deeply into the mind of a Jesuit missionary and his culture at the time of contact. Recent American history scholars might suggest these fellows were misguided but well intended messengers who brought disease, intertribal warfare and sexual perversion to a people that probably had few struggles in these areas- but after all the Indian probably did deserved it for his violent nature, brought about by ignorance and weakness. Black Robe is not a departure from that formula. Since Hollywood has shifted little in the Indian/White Man Western genera than to add a more sympathetic eye to the Indian side of things, it is interesting to see a film which centers on the missionary mind.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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A challenging journey of faith and exploration
Added 11/12/2009
This is an excellent film about the history of our giant neighbor to the North, Canada. It is also a look at what happens when European and native cultures intersect, with much misunderstanding on both sides. Thus it is of interest as a history or anthropology film, but it also tells a very interesting story. The film tells the story of a 17th century French Jesuit missionary who is sent to the Canadian wilds to a remote Huron mission. He is accompanied and lead by a group of Algonquin natives who are very ambivalent about the white explorers, trappers, and priests. As the journey up the St. Lawrence River progresses, the priest is put to many tests of his faith. He is accompanied by a young French explorer who also begins to question the Euro-centric world view of his people as he comes to know the Algonquin culture, spiritual beliefs, and as he falls in love with an Algonquin woman. This sensuous love affair challenges the parents of the Algonquin woman for they have many prejudices about the intelligence and intent of white men. It also challenges the Jesuit priest since it stimulates suppressed sexual desires. The priest is contrasted with his young European partner who is more open to the influence of the native peoples and is not focused on interpretation of life experiences primarily through Roman Catholicism. A primary strength of the film is the excellent characterization of the native Canadian characters which reveals them to be fully human with fully human assets and faults. There are very frightening and violent scenes when the Algonquians and the two Europeans encounter an Iroquois war party and are taken prisoners. Beside the Algonquians and Iroquois, the Huron are also part of this story of culture meets culture, faith meets faith. The balance and judgment in the script and acting is welcomed. Lothaire Blutheau is excellent as the priest, a man who is transformed by his journey and yet retains the central core element of his faith. Aden Young is his handsome apprentice who gradually becomes integrated into the native culture as their journey continues. Sandrine Holt is excellent as the native young woman who loves and is loved by the young Frenchman. August Schellenberg is also excellent as her father and the chief, a wise man with wide experience who also changes as he encounters both European and Christian cultural values. However, the beautiful and dramatic landscape of Canada is also a star in this film which reveals to us what this natural wonder was like 4 centuries ago.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Absolutely brilliant!
Added 10/8/2009
A brilliantly realistic voyage back into time. This magnificent film is the polar opposite of the usual politically corrected dumbed down Hollywood drivel and propaganda, like for instance the idiotic "Dances With Wolves".
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Black but enthralling movie
Added 9/12/2009
This was a dark dark movie from an emotional standpoint but very well done. A little violent but those were violent times. I am very glad I bought it and recommend it highly for those interested in this time period of North America.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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