END OF THE SPEAR
Directed & Edited by: Jim Hanon.
Produced by: Bill Ewing, Mart Green, Tom Newman and Bart Gavigan.
Written by: Bart Gavigan, Jim Hanon & Bill Ewing.
Director of Photography: Robert A. Driskell, Jr.
Music: Ronald Owen.
Released by: M Power.
Country of Origin: USA. 112 min. Rated: PG-13.

Films based on the encounters between remote tribal groups and western civilization tend to go two ways. They either portray the West as ignorant, brutish and misguided, and the traditional culture as wise, kind and victimized (At Play in the Fields of the Lord), or else the reverse (obviously and crudely in King Kong, in all its versions). End of the Spear tries to find a middle ground, and though it doesn’t completely escape the stereotypes, it creates an absorbingly suspenseful film.

Based on a true story, five American missionaries entered the Ecuadorian jungle in 1956 looking for the Waodani tribe, a fierce warring population that was killing its members in alarming numbers. The resulting encounter turns tragic when the five men are speared to death because of a series of misunderstandings. The film explores both the events leading up to the killings and their consequences, centering on the tribe chief, Mincayani (Louie Leonardo), missionary Nate Saint, and a generation later, his son Steve (both roles are played by Chad Allen).

As the film unfolds, the Waodani beliefs and social structure are explained, and a different – but certainly not illogical – set of values and attitudes emerges. Mincayani is depicted as a leader tied to his upbringing, desperate to do the right thing, not as a backward tribal chief. Though well intentioned and courageous, the missionaries are not idealized, either. When Steve, as a boy, asks his father whether firearms will be used if the Waodani attack, Nate says no, because the Waodani aren’t ready for Heaven yet. He is true to his word – but also naïve and silly enough to go on such a journey without even knowing the Waodani language. This mistake is not made by Nate’s sister, Rachel (Sara Kathryn Bakker), and some of the missionary wives, who continue the work of their kin and live among the Amazonian tribe after the killings.

The actors are convincing, though many of those portraying the tribe speak slowly, sometimes sounding inauthentic, probably because they are Latinos acting in the Waodani language. And the wives accompanying Rachel are mainly in the background and unrealistically appear to bear no grudge towards those who killed their husbands, even bringing their children along to live among the tribe.

The film, however, cannot escape the cliché of making Mincayani´s journey one of backwardness to civilization. The missionaries´ belief that they must “save” the tribe means primarily converting them to what they think is the true religion, Christianity, and the “right” path, modernity. All in all, however, it is thought provoking, and in spite of a few glitches (and a slow pace), a satisfying journey. Roxana M. Ramirez, lawyer and journalist, formerly a member of the Peruvian Human Rights and Public Service Ombudsman
January 20, 2006