End of the Spear

Infobox_Film
name =End of the Spear

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caption = "Dare to make contact!"
writer =Screenplay:
Bill Ewing
Bart Gavigan
Jim Hanon
starring =Louie Leonardo
Chad Allen
Jack Guzman
Chase Ellison
Christina Souza
Sean McGowan
Beth Bailey
director =Jim Hanon
producer =William Bowling
Bill Ewing
music =Ron Owen
distributor =Jungle Films LLC| [need clarification] release date =January 20, 2006
runtime =102 min. (possibly recut to 110 min)Fact|date=February 2007
language =English
Emberá
Spanish
budget = US$10 million
imdb_id = 0399862
:"This article is about the film. For the book of the same name, see "End of the Spear" (book).""End of the Spear" is a 2006 docudrama film that recounts the story of Operation Auca, in which five American Christian missionaries attempted to evangelize the Huaorani (Waodani) people of the jungle of Ecuador. Taking a unique spin on actual events from the 1950s in which five male missionaries were speared by members of the Waodani tribe, the movie tells the story from the perspective of Mincayani, one of the tribesmen who killed the missionaries, and Steve Saint, the son of one of the murdered missionaries. The two eventually form a bond that continues to this day.

Movie production

Released January 20, 2006 in 1,163 theaters across the USA, "End of the Spear" is Jim Hanon's second movie production and his first major one. His first was "Beyond the Gates of Splendor", which told the tale of the American missionaries in much the same way as Elisabeth Elliot (wife of one of the murder victims, Jim Elliot) did in her book, "Through Gates of Splendor".

Despite the international attention that the murders originally received, critics were surprised that "End of the Spear"'s distributor, Every Tribe Entertainment, was able to garner such a wide release for a low-budget film that cost only $10 million to make. Critics were not so quick to notice that the movie employed a little-known director, distributor and production company and spent less time on marketing in order to hire more experienced actors than usually work in Christian films. Part of the $10 million went towards securing special effects (by Double Edge Digital) and other visuals.

Although the movie is set in Ecuador, it was filmed on location in Colon, Panama (the area of the Waodani remains virtually inaccessible). Although initial speculation was that most of the actors portraying Waodani would be actual Waodani, the movie employed mostly native Emberá Panamanians, who were extensively coached in dialogue, culture, and mannerisms by Waodani consultants. The language used in the movie is actually their language instead of the Waodani. The end card of the movie promises that half the profits from the film will be given to charities that protect the interests of the Waodani and other native peoples.

Concerns

Some critics believe the story may be seen as presenting an uncritical view of a situation where native peoples were exploited regardless of good intentions, [http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=1986] such as concerns about SIL International.

There was some concern among various Christian groups that lead actor Chad Allen, who portrays aviator missionary Nate Saint in the movie (and his son Steve Saint as an adult), is openly gay. Some Christian groups (such as Doug Phillips' Vision Forum) that had initially planned to promote the film began to question whether they should. The real Steve Saint, who was heavily involved in the production of the film, has stated in interviews that he himself had reservations but that God indicated to him that Allen was the proper choice. In the end, he couldn't see a better actor filling the role of his father. His public pronouncements did much to quell the controversy. [ [http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/news/chadallen.html 26 January 2006: Christian Studio Explains Hiring of Gay Actor] Retrieved on June 5 2007]

Other Christian groups (such as VCY America's Vic Eliason) wished the film had more explicitly portrayed the Gospel message (i.e. salvation through Jesus Christ). However, the Gospel presented in the movie is the same as it was presented to the Waodani; in concepts and symbols that are present in everyday Waodani language (with the name of "God" being replaced with "Waengongi", the name of the Waodani creator god who no longer communicated with the people). [The End of the Spear (Book) by Steve Saint, ISBN 0-8423-6439-0 ©2005]

Due to the limitations of the movie format, they have had to compress various events and limit the number of characters. As a result, the main Waodani protagonist, Mincayani, is not actually one person in real life but rather a composite of the real-life Waodani named Mincaye and various other Waodanis. Some of Steve’s sister’s experiences ended up being attributed to Steve in the movie and the dramatic climactic reconciliation between Steve as an adult and Mincayani did not actually happen as depicted in the film – it was more of a slow, growing love and friendship between the real-life Steve and Mincayani. [ [http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/stevesaint.html 18 January 2006: Death Worked Backwards] Retrieved on June 5 2007] [ [http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=637 January 2006 Decision Magazine: For the love of a tribe...] Retrieved on June 5 2007] [ [http://www.epm.org/articles/end_of_spear.html Movie review of End of the Spear by Randy Alcorn] Retrieved on June 5 2007] [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/19/AR2006011901309.html 20 January 2006 Washington Post: Friendship: An Incredible Act of Forgiveness] Retrieved on June 5 2007]

Box office

Opening with a stronger-than-expected first weekend (January 20-22, 2006), "Spear" took 8th place (behind four other new and expanding movies) with $4.3 million USD. "End of the Spear" became one of the few independently released Christian movies to draw more than $1,000,000 in its first three weekends of release. By the time the film left the box office, it had made $12 million. It has since made over $20 million more in rentals and video sales.

Critical response

"Spear" had a mixed response among film critics, while being received more positively by filmgoers.

Rotten Tomatoes Meter, an average of critics' ratings, as of January 8, 2007 had given the movie 57%; 19 positive, 28 negative reviews (avg. rating: 5.2/10) [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/end_of_the_spear/ End of the Spear - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ]

Boxofficemojo, which is also rated by users, had more than 2/3rds of viewers give the film an 'A' rating. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=endofthespear.htm End of the Spear (2006) ] ] The film won a Crystal Heart Award [ cite web|title=Films|url=http://www.heartlandfilmfestival.org/2005/films.html|year=2005|accessdate=2006-02-08] as well as the Grand Prize for Best Dramatic Feature [cite web|title=Heartland Film Festival Concludes Another Record Breaking Year|url=http://www.heartlandfilmfestival.org/2005/press_release_15.html|year=2005|accessdate=2006-02-08 ] at the 2005 Heartland Film Festival.

Extra Footage

The DVD and some theaters where the movie was shown also included extra footage after the movie ended showing the real life Mincayani (Mincaye) and the real life Steve Saint in our modern day. Mincaye visited Steve Saint in America with humorous results while trying to understand American culture.

Cast

References

External links

* [http://www.endofthespear.com/ Official site]
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* [http://www.everytribe.com/Movies/EndOfTheSpear.aspx Official movie trailer]