Wednesday, November 15, 2006

The End of the Spear

Just finished watching End of the Spear. It is a breath-taking movie, beautifully filmed and well-acted.

End of the Spear is based on the true story of a group of Christian missionaries in Ecuador who try to reach the Waodani tribe, an indigenous people defined by revenge killings with spears). When five men from the missionary group are speared to death by the Waodani warriors, the wives and children determine to live with the tribe, help them survive the deadly fevers of the jungle, and teach them the ways of God.

The scene where the warriors kill the missionaries is heart-breaking, gruesome, and tragic but very well done. The complete mistrust of foreigners by the Waodani is explained and the violent culture they live in is well-demonstrated.

After the awful Ted Haggard scandal, the sexual abuse scandals of the Catholic church, and even the wacked out behavior of high profile Christians like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, it's nice to watch a movie where the Christians get to be the good guys for a change.