Movies - End of the Spear

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	Movies - End of the Spear

End of the Spear is a docudrama film which tells the story of five American missionaries to the Waodani Indians of the Ecuadorian jungles. Taking a unique spin on the 1950s true life epic which saw the five male missionaries speared by members of the Waodani tribe, the movie tells the story from the voice of Steve Saint, the son of one of the killed missionaries, and through the eyes of one of the murderers, a young man named Mincayani. The two eventually form a special bond.

Tagline: "Dare to make contact!"

Movie Production

Released January 20, 2006 in just under 1200 theaters nationwide, The End of the Spear is Jim Hanon's second movie production and his first major one. It came after a less-than-satisfactory (grossing under $70,000 USD in a limited release) documentary "Beyond the Gates of Splendor," which told the tale of the American missionaries in much the same way as Elisabeth Elliot (wife of one of the murder victims, Jim Elliot) did in her book, Through Gates of Splendor.

Despite the international attention that the murders originally received, critics were surprised that Every Tribe Entertainment (Spear's Distributor) was able to garner such a wide release for a low-budget film that only cost $10 million to make. Critics were not so quick to notice that the movie employed a little-known director, distributor and production company, and then spent very little on marketing in order to hire more experienced actors than usually work in Christian films. Part of the $10 million went towards securing good special effects (executed by ) and other visual perks.

Although the movie is set in Ecuador, it was filmed on location in Panama (the area of the Waodani remains virtually inaccessible). Although initial speculation was that most of the actors portraying Waodani would be actual Waodani, the movie employed native Panamanians who were extensively coached in dialogue, culture, and mannerisms by Waodani consultants.

The endcard of the movie promises that half the profits from the film will be given to charities that protect the interests of the Waodani and other native peoples.

Filming Locations

Colon, Panama.

Controversy

The secular point of view

Typical movie reviewers have criticized the film for portraying the stereotypical "jungle savage" who seeks to kill anything he can't understand and who is so incompetent at survival that he is about to go extinct before the white men arrive and teach him the benefits of civilization.

The religious point of view

Some Christians have felt resentment at a movie capitalizing on the memory of five men who are nearly regarded as saints. They have also expressed distress that Christians may spend more money than necessary on repeat viewings of the film, which is a for-profit venture.
The main actor, Chad Allen
, who portrays aviator missionary Nate Saint in the movie (and his son Steve Saint as an adult) is an open homosexual. This fact has caused some Christian groups (such as Dough Phillips' Vision Forum) that were initially planning to promote the film to question their decision. 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.
Some Christians (such as VCY America's Vic Eliason) have criticized the film for not explicitly portraying the Gospel message (i.e. Salvation through Jesus Christ). While the movie portrays the story of God sending his Son to Earth to save mankind and references Christ's sacrificial death on the cross, it does so in a very simplified, allegorical manner. It does not sound like the Gospel in the way that American Christians expect to hear, and thus some call it "watered-down". 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 the Waodoni term "Waengongi", the creator god who no longer communicated with the people).

Box office

Opening with a stronger-than-expected first weekend (January 20-22), Spear took 8th place (behind four other new and expanding movies) with $4.3 million USD. In spite of some poor reviews by major critics, End of the Spear became one of the few independently released Christian movies to draw over $1,000,000 in its first three weekends of release. By the time the film left the box office, it had made an estimate $11.748 million.

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Critical Response

Unlike The New World
(a re-telling of the Pocahantas story) which was released on the same day, Spear received many negative reviews. However, there was quite a bit of positive feedback in the Christian community and some from secular reviewers.

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