Themes: Missionaries, Redemption, Fathers and Sons
Main Cast: Louie Leonardo, Chad Allen, Chase Ellison, Sara Kathryn Bakker, Cara Stoner, Jack Guzman, Christina Souza
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
An indigenous people are turned from a life of violence to a more gentle and forgiving nature in this adventure drama based on a true story. Nate Saint (Chad Allen) is a pilot and Christian missionary who, with his family, lives and works in the jungles of South America near the Amazon. Nate is fascinated by tales he's heard of the Waodani, a violent and aggressive tribe living nearby, and with a group of fellow Christians takes it upon himself to teach them the importance of compassion and forgiveness. However, the leader of the Waodanis, Mincayani (Louie Leonardo), does not trust the white visitors, and believes they may have had something to do with the disappearance of a young girl from his tribe years ago. A meeting between Nate and Mincayani goes terribly wrong thanks to Nate's inability to understand the Waodani language, and Nate and four of his fellow missionaries are savagely murdered by the tribesmen. However, in the final moments of his life, Nate is able to impart a message in Mincayani that bears fruit years later when Steve Saint, Nate's son (also played by Allen) returns to continue the work his father started. End of the Spear was adapted from the true story of Nate Saint and Steve Saint, which was previously brought to the screen in the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Missionaries bent on bringing Christianity to "the savages" don't always make the most sympathetic protagonists. But it's also a question of the degree to which those characteristics are shoved in viewers' faces. In Jim Hanon's End of the Spear, it's refreshingly little, leaving the missionaries a lot closer to their idealized version: good people who want to bring medicine and other modern conveniences to cultures that have none. End of the Spear shapes itself into an involving and occasionally wrenching story as it goes along, but it starts out pretty inauspiciously. In the opening passages, the acting, scripting and action choreography are all rudimentary at best, which draws extra attention to the film's lack of stars and squareness of purpose. (The action is intentionally restrained in accordance with the family-friendly PG-13 rating). But as the narrative progresses, characters drawn with initially broad strokes start to feel like real people, and the complexities of integrating cultures -- especially when they share no language skills, but only a history of mutual distrust -- really come to the fore. There's a real bravery required on both sides in reaching out to the other, and the reward is rich: a realization that they share substantially the same hopes and fears, and an eagerness to try peace before resorting to war. The fact that End of the Spear is based on a true story -- and that footage of the real people is included over the closing credits -- excuses the film's earnestness, which at points is a little too intense. By the time the viewer has taken the whole journey, not only does End of the Spear no longer feel simplistic, but it has a remarkable profundity -- especially in the double meaning of the title, which contains equal doses of regret and hope. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Jeff LeGore - Art Director, Bill Bowling - Associate Producer, Jennifer Clymer - Associate Producer, Mark Fincannon - Casting, Mari-An Ceo - Costume Designer, Sara Rossi - First Assistant Director, Jim Hanon - Director, Gina Ortega - Second Unit Director, Miles Hanon - Editor, Eugene Mazzola - Executive Producer, Kevin McAfee - Executive Producer, Ronald Owen - Composer (Music Score), Shaun Smith - Makeup, Clarence Major - Production Designer, Robert A. Driskell, Jr. - Cinematographer, Bart Gavigan - Producer, Bill Ewing - Producer, Mart Green - Producer, Tom Newman - Producer, Lamer Walker - Set Designer, Robert Marts - Sound/Sound Designer, Joseph Bonn - Sound Editor, Lauro Chartrand - Stunts Coordinator, Bart Gavigan - Screenwriter, Jim Hanon - Screenwriter, Bill Ewing - Screenwriter, Martina Nagel - Second Unit Director Of Photography, David Kuklish - Visual Effects Supervisor, Jeff McManus - Set Decorator
End of the Spear is a 2006docudrama film that recounts the story of Operation Auca, in which five American Christian missionaries attempted to evangelize the Huaorani (Waodani) people of the jungle of Ecuador. Taking a unique spin on actual events from the 1950s in which five male missionaries were speared by members of the Waodani tribe, the movie tells the story from the perspective of Steve Saint (the son of Nate Saint, one of the murdered missionaries), and Mincayani, one of the tribesmen who killed the missionaries. The two eventually form a bond that continues to this day.
"End of the Spear" is the story of the Indian Mincayani, part of the very violent Waodani tribe in the jungles of Ecuador. Motto of this strain is: kill the spear or you will be slain by the spear. One day in 1956 five missionaries slain by the Waodani. This appears to be turning point in their lives, such that at some point they will seek peace with the Indian tribes who once were their rivals. And cap it among their descendants in the inclusion of the slain missionary Nate Saint, whose son Steve, now grown to maturity, the Waodani is to visit to see how the final hours of his father expired.
Some critics believe the story may be seen as presenting an uncritical view of a situation where native peoples were exploited regardless of good intentions[1] such as concerns about SIL International.
There was some concern among various Christian groups that lead actor Chad Allen, who portrays aviator missionary Nate Saint in the movie (and his son Steve Saint as an adult), is openly gay. Some Christian groups (such as Doug Phillips' Vision Forum) that had initially planned to promote the film began to question whether they should. The real Steve Saint, who was heavily involved in the production of the film, has stated in interviews that he himself had reservations but that God indicated to him that Allen was the proper choice. In the end, he couldn't see a better actor filling the role of his father. His public pronouncements did much to quell the controversy.[2]
Other Christian groups (such as VCY America's Vic Eliason) wished the film had more explicitly portrayed the Gospel message (i.e. salvation through Jesus Christ). However, the Gospel presented in the movie is the same as it was presented to the Waodani; in concepts and symbols that are present in everyday Waodani language (with the name of "God" being replaced with "Waengongi", the name of the Waodani creator god who no longer communicated with the people).[3]
Due to the limitations of the movie format, they have had to compress various events and limit the number of characters. As a result, the main Waodani protagonist, Mincayani, is not actually one person in real life but rather a composite of the real-life Waodani named Mincaye and various other Waodanis. Some of Steve’s sister’s experiences ended up being attributed to Steve in the movie and the dramatic climactic reconciliation between Steve as an adult and Mincayani did not actually happen as depicted in the film – it was more of a slow, growing love and friendship between the real-life Steve and Mincayani.[4][5][6][7]
Box office
Opening with a stronger-than-expected first weekend (January 20-22, 2006), Spear took 8th place (behind four other new and expanding movies) with $4.3 million USD. End of the Spear became one of the few independently released Christian movies to draw more than $1,000,000 in its first three weekends of release. By the time the film left the box office, it had made $12 million. It has since made over $20 million more in rentals and video sales.
Critical response
End of the Spear had a mixed response among film critics, while being received more positively by filmgoers[citation needed]. Rotten Tomatoes Meter, an average of critics' ratings, as of December 26, 2009 had given the movie 41%; 20 positive, 29 negative reviews (avg. rating: 5.2/10).[8]
Box Office Mojo, which also incorporates user ratings, had nearly 2/3rds of viewers give the film an 'A' rating.[9] The film won a Crystal Heart Award[10] as well as the Grand Prize for Best Dramatic Feature[11] at the 2005 Heartland Film Festival.
Extra footage
The DVD and some theaters where the movie was shown also included extra footage after the movie ended showing the real life Mincayani (Mincaye) and the real life Steve Saint in our modern day. Mincaye visited Steve Saint in America with humorous results while trying to understand American culture.
