Review of Black Robe (1991) by Edwin A — 06 Sep 2008

"Black Robe" is an incredibly moving yet deeply disturbing film. Absolutely its best feature is the magnificent on-site scenery of the Québec wilderness. The scenery is overwhelmingly beautiful. The film depicts the devotion of the French Catholic missionaries to the Indians and the huge culture gap between the two cultures. It does not offer an idyllic view of native Americans. As other reviews have noted, it is incredibly different from the politically correct "Dances With Wolves." It shows the strengths and weaknesses of both Europeans and Native Americans. For the Christian, it shows how the devotion and burden of the missionaries to reach the unreached faced such overwhelming obstacles, human weakness, cultural misunderstanding as well as spiritual conflict. The main character faces a seemingly hopeless task in reaching the Hurons. Yet, in a key line near the end, the Hurons ask him, "do you love us?" "Yes," he responds. "Then, baptize us." The Hurons are baptized, though, as the last lines indicate, they are later slaughtered by the Iroquois. I'm thinking the producer must have studied extensively the first-hand records of the 17th-century Jesuits who were the protagonists in real-life history of this vivid depiction of historical fiction.

I would love to give this incredibly powerful film 5 stars. However, the immorality and violence graphically shown are too disturbing, thus I can only give it 4 stars. Its negative features, however, are likely accurate in terms of what the missionaries actually faced.