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Movie Review for End of the Spear
Movie Review for
End of the Spear
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End of the Spear | | |
| Also known as: | |
22 Reviews total.
Release date: 1/20/2006
Run length: 112 mins.
Categories:
Drama
Summary:
In the Ecuadorian jungles of the Amazon, the Waodani people, one of the most violent societies on the planet, live totally cut off from civilization. Their homicide rate has brought them to the brink of extinction. One of their tribal leaders is Mincayani. Somewhere not far away along the Amazon, five young North American missionaries and their families have set out to find the Waodani. Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian eventually locate the Waodani village and find a sandbar on which to land their small plane. When one of the tribesmen lies that the foreigners on the sandbar have abducted and killed a tribeswoman, Mincayani and his fellow warriors find their site and spear the five Americans. The missing missionaries make headlines in the world’s media and a search ensues. When the Waodani see the helicopter and the size of the search party they think the foreigners will take their revenge, so they burn their huts and flee deeper into the jungle. Within months of the killings, a Waodani woman who had fled the tribe, helps gain entry into the tribe for the wife of one missionary and the sister of another, as well as Nate’s son, Steve. In time, they come to live with the Waodani and through a series of events the spearing that was destroying the tribe comes to an end. Steve wants to learn which warrior killed his father. He leaves the tribe as a boy with this question unanswered. Steve returns as an adult when his aunt, Rachel Saint, who had spent the rest of her life with the Waodani, dies. The Waodani want Steve to live with them the way Rachel did, but Steve’s unanswered questions keep him from agreeing. Mincayani takes Steve to the river where his father was killed and confesses to spearing him. At that moment, Steve and Mincayani are forced to confront the true meaning of the life and death of Steve’s father and the other men who were killed.
Reviews of End of the Spear
By
Wesley Morris
of Boston Globe (7/0)
Not an emotional powerhouse so much as a dutiful public service announcement.
By
Allison Benedikt
of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
...a childish and visually repetitive movie, ham-fisted, proselytizing and overtly simplified.
By
Stephen Humphries
of Christian Science Monitor (7/0)
Though the final steps in Mincayani's awakening are crudely sketched, the film's conclusion will ...
By
Owen Gleiberman
of E! Online (7/0)
...atrociously scripted and edited...
By
Eric D. Snider
of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
Only marginally uplifting and just passably enjoyable as a film. I know in my mind that these exp...
By
Pete Croatto
of filmcritic.com (7/0)
It takes a movie like Brokeback Mountain to make you realize how awful End of the Spear i...
Reviews of End of the Spear
By
Jon Niccum
of Lawrence Journal-World (7/0)
This generally engrossing Christian parable is the type of film that conservatives will overprais...
By
Stephen Holden
of New York Times (7/0)
...inspiring enough to make you wish that the filmmakers had reined in their sentimental excesses...
By
Nathan Rabin
of Onion AV Club (7/0)
[Director] Hanon seems more interested in exploiting his setting's lush green beauty than explori...
By
Cynthia Fuchs
of PopMatters (7/0)
Jim Hanon's film is so awkward and anachronistic that it raises more questions than answers.
By
Linda Cook
of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (7/0)
I knew nothing about this movie going in %u2026 nothing. When I came out, I swore I would do ever...
By
Betty Jo Tucker
of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/0)
'End of the Spear' features some intensely violent scenes, but this thought-provoking movie never...
Reviews of End of the Spear
By
Ruthe Stein
of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
...a Christian-themed film about redemption with almost no redeeming qualities as entertainment.
By
Ed Gonzalez
of Slant Magazine (7/0)
The Waodanis await a film that humanely considers their conversion as intensely as this film sing...
By
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
of Spirituality and Practice (7/0)
One of the best films ever made about the courage and compassion that is at the heart of the Chri...
By
Philip Martin
of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (3/4) No reference
...explores the cost of revenge-taking and the cyclical escalation of violence with a sober probi...
By
Danny Minton
of Beaumont Journal (3/4) No reference
Big-time production values and a truly interesting story make this a huge step forward for the Ch...
By
Michael Rechtshaffen
of Hollywood Reporter (6/1) No reference
Bungle in the jungle.
Reviews of End of the Spear
By
Lou Lumenick
of New York Post (3/4) No reference
...sincere but underwhelming...
By
Gary Thompson
of Philadelphia Daily News (3/4) No reference
Spear, financed and distributed by Christian groups, is independently made and sometimes rough ar...
By
James D. Davis
of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (3/4) No reference
A nuanced, occasionally beautiful work, though not flawless.
By
Harvey S. Karten
of Compuserve (6/1) Not Reachable
A crowd-pleasing entertainment based on the true story of missionaries who ultimately persuaded a...
Movie Distributors Production Companies
Every Tribe Entertainment
Bearing Fruit Entertainment Movie Studios
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