Review of Black Robe (1991) by Dillon L — 11 Nov 2010

An excellent movie that is vastly, vastly underrated. The story is complicated, deep, and very layered. It is about two vastly different cultures clashing together, and figuring out that no, there isn't "much they can learn from each other". Both experience a severe test of their will, and both fail it to a certain extent. There is no moral lesson here, there is disparity and darkness, it is a time when the spiritual world provides no answers for either party. The Jesuit priest sees his theology utterly rejected and not at the least bit understood, which in his eyes pretty much damns all the people he is trying to save. For the Indians, they experience first hand the merciless brutality their way of life may sometimes lead to. At the end, both suffer defeat.

This bleakness is reflected in the amazing cinematography of the movie, which transforms all the vastly beautiful natural scenes into murky, grayish landscapes, that are at once both picaresque and a little bit nightmarish.