End of the Spear

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End of the Spear

Directed by	Jim Hanon
Produced by	William Bowling Bill Ewing
Written by	Screenplay: Bill Ewing Bart Gavigan Jim Hanon
Starring	Louie Leonardo Chad Allen Jack Guzman Chase Ellison Christina Souza Sean McGowan Beth Bailey
Music by	Ron Owen
Distributed by	Jungle Films LLC
Running time	102 min. (possibly recut to 110 min)^{[citation needed]}
Language	English Huao Terero
Budget	US$10 million
IMDb profile

End of the Spear is a 2006 docudrama film that recounts the story of Operation Auca, in which five American missionaries attempted to evangelize the Waodani people of the jungle of Ecuador. 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 perspective of Steve Saint, the son of one of the murdered missionaries, and one of his father's killers, a young man named Mincayani. The two eventually form a special bond.

Tagline: "Dare to make contact!"

1 Movie production
2 Controversy
- 2.1 The secular point of view
- 2.2 The religious point of view
3 Moral?
4 Box office
5 Critical response
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] 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 cost only $10 million to make. Critics were not so quick to notice that the movie employed a little-known director, distributor and production company and spent less time 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 Double Edge Digital) and other visual perks.

Although the movie is set in Ecuador, it was filmed on location in Colon, 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 end card 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.

[edit] Controversy

[edit] The secular point of view

Typical movie reviewers have criticized the film for portraying the stereotypical "jungle savage" who seeks to kill anything he does not understand and who is so incompetent at survival that he cheats extinction only when the white men arrive and teach him the benefits of civilization.^{[citation needed]}

The story may be seen as presenting an uncritical view of a situation where native peoples were exploited regardless of good intentions.[1]

from Wikipedia article Huaorani: "Around the time of World War II, there was a great increase of inter-clan killings, resulting in the deaths of as many as 60% of the Huaorani. These killings were apparently revenge for a number of deaths that most likely resulted from the introduction of outside diseases. The Huaorani were also immensely hostile to outsiders on their land (mostly prospectors for foreign oil companies and their Quechua employees), resulting in the tribe being misnamed "Aucas" (which is the Quechua word for "savage")."

from Wikipedia article SIL International: "SIL has been accused of being involved in moving indigenous populations in South America from their native lands to make way for exploitation schemes of North American and European oil corporations. The most well-known example is the case of the Huaorani people in Ecuador, which resulted in many deaths and the moving of the people into reservations controlled by the missionaries."

[edit] The religious point of view

Some Christians have expressed resentment at the movie for capitalizing on the memory of five men who are nearly regarded as saints. They have also criticized the film for making Christians spend more money than necessary on repeat viewings of the film, which is a for-profit venture. ^{[citation needed]}

Additionally, lead 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 Doug 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. Since the Gospel is not expressed in the film in the way many evangelical Christians had expected, some called 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).

[edit] Moral?

Regardless of which viewpoint one takes, the film's objective is to portray the ultimate value of forgiveness.^{[citation needed]} At one point early in the film, Mincayani questions his previous actions (of killing the "foreigners") by saying "Where does it end?" to one of the women in his tribe.

[edit] 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 estimated $11.748 million. It has since done over $20 million more in rentals and video sales.

[edit] Critical response

Unlike The New World, a re-telling of the Pocahantas story released on the same day, Spear received many negative reviews. However, it also drew positive feedback from the Christian community and some secular reviewers.

Rotten Tomato Meter: 48% (ie: "rotten"); 17 positive, 22 negative reviews (avg. rating: 5.5/10)

The film won a Crystal Heart Award ^[1] as well as the Grand Prize for Best Dramatic Feature^[2] at the 2005 Heartland Film Festival.