Sorry, this movie sucks

Simply Perfect

Excellent but underrated film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

I knew what the story was, about the 5 missionaries who were killed by savages, and still more missionaries refused to give up on them.I hadn't realized how truly objective the film was going to be. We are given points of view of both villagers and missionaries. There is no sugar coating. We get the faults of humans, and their struggles. No one is spared this. Facts are there. It is what it is. There is no evangelism in this film. Only the acts of people helping a savage tribe survive and live past their teenage years, in spite of what more mercantile people want to do to the savages.Some have blindly lashed out against the film for being pro-Christian. I have to laugh at those immature minds and tell them to grow up. Fact is, missionaries are often the only help that poor, starving, ailing people have. I have never seen such objective story telling. If the Atheists truly are that afraid of Christian martyrs, that speaks volumes in itself.

This is a descriptive story, one that tells of real events, although I am certain they are highly edited. Basically, a bunch of white guys living in Ecuador decide to "save" the local savage tribes still living in the stone age, killing each other for women and hunting grounds.The missionaries are portrayed as real selfless people, with only a few scenes purporting to the religious aspect of their quest, which, in my opinion, was probably the main if not the only reason they were there in the first place.Due to a misunderstanding, the missionaries are killed, but their wives and children end up living in the village of their killers, turning the other cheek, as it were, and breaking the endless cycle of violence... by bringing polio to the enemy tribe :)Bottom line: it is a point of view breaker. By watching the movie, one gets to break out of their cozy view of the world and gather more insight into human nature. Understanding the amount of editing of the real story and the politics behind it brings more insight.

End of the Spear is based on a true story of five missionary families who sacrificed everything to reach the Waodani Indians found in Ecuador. The Waodani's believed that killing others made them more prepared for "crossing the great boa", their view of the afterlife. This belief lead them to massacre neighboring villages for strength and spiritual maturity. It became such a problem, the Ecuadorian government chose to step in and, in order to stop the killings, kill the Waodoni. Enter Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and their respective families. Their mission was to convert the Waodoni to Christianity, thus stopping the violence that had lead the Ecuadorian government to take such drastic steps to stop all hostilities. The story centers around young Steve Saint, Nate Saint's son, and the rest of his family mostly, with a dual lead character in the Amazon Jungle, Mincayani, a tribal leader. It is one of great sacrifice and great rewards. I loved the way they showed Christianity fleshed out in the heart of the jungle, free from all the stuffed shirt religiosity that seems to saturate some Christian movies. End of the Spear has a great sense of realism with a nice balance of dialogue and action.Since it is about a tribe in the Amazon Jungle, we do see a little more flesh than may be comfortable for some viewers...mainly legs, torsos, and backsides. A few children in one scene are seen completely nude, but the setting sun seems to obscure most nudity.There is also quite a bit of violence, hence the PG-13 rating. The Waodoni's weapon of choice was spears (hence the name End of the Spear), so we see several scenes that are somewhat violent, but most weapon to body contact is off screen, leaving us with the taste of the brutality without the gory results, as famed by Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.Over all, I think this is one of the better Christian movies made. The plot line seemed to drag at points, but nothing to write home about...any flaws are graciously covered by the abundance of great moral lessons, from sacrifice to honor to forgiveness, this movie abounds in rich spiritual insight.On a scale of 1 to 10, End of the Spear gets:Entertainment/Artisic Content: 8.5 Sprititual Content: 10 Family Friendliness: 6 (My little brother and sister saw this in the theater with my parents. They were 11 and 9 at the time, and it did not bother them, but parents should use their own discretion...)

Without going into technical aspects and the like, because in this instance that sort of thing is secondary at best, this movie is extremely well done. But that isn't the point here really. The real point is that its done in such a way that ... You're THERE. You FEEL it, SEE it, HEAR it. Its one of those flicks that sucks you in and makes you a part of it. It makes a point, and it does that without beating anyone over the head with someone else's morality. That was a very pleasant surprise for me. This is a film that is well worth the view. Side note: Most of the players? Never heard of 'em. Any disappointments in that? Not one.