Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Europe encounters wilderness in nature and in the soul, 9 May 2001
By A Customer
"Black Robe" is the film "Dances with Wolves" might have been if Kevin Costner could have faced up to the bleakness, the ferocity and ambivalent human conduct engendered by the North American wilderness. A European priest travels into the trackless Canadian interior on a mission. The mission is to save souls but conventional European wisdom seems inadequate to change the indwelling spirit of the land and its people. Despite the immense distance of his journey - both geographical and spiritual - he perseveres to his goal. On the way he explores the extremes of barbarity and beauty, betrayal and loyalty, aimlessness and commitment. He is transformed and prevails not by words or dogma but by self-sacrifice. This film is thoughtful and earthy, inpsiring and demoralising all at once. A silent canoe ride into the heart of darkness Conrad visualised in Africa. But instead of finding just "the horror" at the heart of darkness he also finds shining light - does the light come from the depth of his own imported faith or from the spirits animating his new world? Brutish violence and cruelty intermingled with purity and piety. Watch and be drawn into the endless wilderness of your own soul....
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Hollywood glorifications here just raw beauty and harshness., 4 Jan 2008
This film based on Brian Moores novel depicts the rugged 1500 mile journey undertaken by Jesuit priest Father Laforge(Lothaire Blutheau) in order to convert what are seen as the savage Indian tribes living in the remote interior areas along Canada's St.Lawrence River in the mid 1600's to Christianity and away from worshipping their own gods and images.These tribes are mainly the Huron and Algonquin and a group of Algonquin reluctantly agree to help him complete his journey.One dangerous hazard soon begins to face him and his helpers after another which leads the Indians to question whether what they are doing is angering their Gods,Laforge to question for the first time if he will ever complete his mission.Extremely good acting,especially Sandrine Holt in her first major role.Beautiful scenery
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No heroes, just nature and the search for truth, 28 Aug 2009
Bruce Beresford is a humane, sensitive director, who might be described as ruthlessly even-handed. He is concerned with culture clashes and outsiders, and he transfers the same concerns he exhibited in the marvellous "Breaker Morant", this time aided by a bigger budget and spectacular scenery. Comparisons are often made with "Dances with Wolves", but that's like comparing "The Man Who Would be King" with "Carry On Up the Khyber". Central to the film is the relationship between the whites and the Native Americans, and Beresford is always alert to both the atavistic force of difference, and the subtleties. As the priest journeys into the heart of darkness which is the unknown wilderness of Canada, for the first half of the film it is possible to see it as a simplistic "White Man bad and stupid - Indians good and unspoilt". But the shock of meeting a tribe devoted to slaughter and torture sets all values on their heads. The Indians who are captured in this episode are entirely accepting of the role of violence in the balance between tribes, even down to this extreme. The Christian priest, stripped of everything, has to go beyond the goal of converting them, to loving them. The tribe converts to Christianity with the declaration of love, and a sardonic postscript shows they were wiped out by enemies fifteen years later. This is not at all an easy film, but it has volumes to say about colonialism of all kinds; whatever your personal journey, you can't escape the tyranny of the side you are born on. It doesn't quite achieve the cinematic poetry of "Breaker Morant", but it offers a much more detailed, ambiguous and mature critique of the white man's intrusion into others' space, and some delicious comparisons between the superstitions of Catholicism and those of the native Americans. Performances are all unshowy and full of integrity. Should be required viewing for all theology students.
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