Film Review by Stephen Clark
Black Robe‘Blackrobes’ was the name given to Catholic priests in the New World by the Native Americans, referring to their distinctive clothing. The film is adapted from Brian Moore’s novel of the same name, and is an Australian-Canadian joint production directed by Bruce Beresford, probably better known for directing ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, and does not feature any big name stars. The story is set in New France in 1634, and follows the missionary work of the Jesuits in Quebec. In particular it follows the journey of one priest, Father Laforgue and his fellow French companion, Daniel, who are led through the wilderness of New France by the Algonkian tribe in order to find a distant Huron Jesuit mission. The character of Laforgue has been based on Noel Chabanel(1613-1649), who was killed by a Huron renegade. [1] It is at times harrowing, particularly when the group are captured by a rival tribe, the Irquois Indians, whereupon many of the group are injured or kill, though the two Frenchmen are able to make a narrow escape, with the priest eventually arriving at the settlement. Even then, Father Laforgue encounters further disaster as many of the Indians die of an epidemic fever, which persuades the survivors to convert to Christianity. However, the film ends on a bleak note announcing in the end credits that fifteen years later the Christian Huron tribe would be killed by their enemies, the Iroquois. There are several significant features of this film which are of interest to the historian. The visuals of the film are excellent throughout, with the beautiful Canadian mountain scenery forming the backdrop to most of the film. More particularly, Black Robe has been widely recognised as one of the most authentic depiction’s of Indian life ever filmed. [2] The films set designer, Herbert Pinter was adamant that what the viewer saw was 99 per cent accurate, a bold statement perhaps, however it does indicate that much time and effort was spent to recreate the period. [3] The architecture and detail of the housing, methods of hunting and what they ate are all depicted in the most realistic of manners. The way the Indians interact with each other is shown clearly through casual conversations, and their beliefs and religions are also depicted to show they had no need for Christianity that the Jesuits tried to impose on them. [4] It is apparent that Brian Moores’ screenplay attempts to show the contrasts in behaviour between the civilised Christians and the so called ‘savages’. The main theme is one of the difficulty of the two very different and divided cultures trying to comprehend each other, and there are various examples of this throughout the film. One example of this was the Indian belief that clocks that chimed were some kind of idol that the Christians worshipped, which is historically accurate. Religion is strongly debated throughout the film, with the natives eyeing the Catholic Blackrobes and their beliefs with suspicion. At one point the character Daniel questions the superiority of Catholicism to the native religion. He finds he is unable to explain to his lover, who is a native, and therefore able to be promiscuous that he does not know why Blackrobes make the vow to never have sex, while at the same time Father Laforgue finds it difficult to control his own sinful feelings. The native religion’s alternative to a priest, called ‘Shamans’, at one point confront Father Laforgue, viewing him as a demon which will anger the spirits. For his part, the Jesuit views the Shaman and his beliefs, including the importance of dream interpretation, as utter nonsense. This view the Jesuits took toward the natives beliefs is accurate: ‘evangelical Christianity had no room for “false goods”, strange rituals, and local beliefs. It sought to bend the [supposedly]‘pagan’ and ‘infidel’ worlds to its own will and vision of the good true and beautiful. In America as in China, “Christianity was a religion that changed customs, called into question accepted ideas and, above all threatened to undermine existing situations.”’ [5] Thus, the impression one gets is that the Jesuits were agents for change, trying to conquer the world with Roman Catholic Christianity, and also trying to civilise the ‘savages’. Jesuits were able to attack such belief systems, as is shown in the film, by impressing the natives with literacy and knowledge. The natives therefore viewed them with fear, believing they must have special powers, and could be dangerous, rocking the foundations of their conventional wisdom. [6] The film shows that Jesuits were absolutely convinced of their own righteousness. It would not be apparent to them that they were not bringing salvation to these people, but ultimately destruction. Toward the end of the film Father Laforgue does question whether they are doing the right thing. This was due to the Jesuits misleading the Indians, telling them that they were susceptible to disease directly due to their ‘pagan’ beliefs, and they would not suffer so greatly if they converted to Christianity. However, he does proceed with baptising them, or ‘water sorcery’ as the native Americans described it. The film has been well researched, and this can be attributed in part to the considerable effort Brian Moore put into his fine book. The book is a little different to the film. Though the film is fairly violent, it does not attempt to show the horrifying cannibalism exhibited by the Irquois tribe, the coarse language in the film is also toned down, perhaps this is because the director wished to make the film accessible to a wider audience, and therefore allow more people to watch it. The director may have been making a comment about religion in the 1990s in this film. One can view the Jesuits as unswervingly convinced of their duty to convert all to Christian beliefs, disregarding other peoples beliefs as wrongful or pagan. This can be compared to the fear of ‘fanaticism’ in religions like Islam in recent years. [7] Black Robe has received mixed reviews, critically. Though it did gain best Canadian picture at the Canadian Film Awards, it has been described as a difficult film to enjoy because of the rather bleak outlook it holds. The work of the Jesuits is shown to be arduous and extremely difficult, especially in the harsh conditions of the time. Black Robe is certainly a very well-made film with beautiful visuals of a harsh climate. It is of interest to those who wish to gain a better understanding of the lives of the early Europeans in the new world and the problems they faced in understanding and accepting the natives. However, for the average cinema-goer this film may be a hard film to find satisfying, purely for enjoyment. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Black Robe, (review) The American Historical Review, v.97 issue 4, Oct 1994, p.1168 [2] www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1991/11/678497.html [3] www.urbancinefile.com [4] www.suntimes.com [5] Axtell, James Beyond 1492:Encounters in Colonial North America, p.155 [6] Axtell, James p.160 [7] www.suntimes.com |