End of the Spear
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| End of the Spear | |
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| Directed by | Jim Hanon |
| Produced by | William Bowling Bill Ewing |
| Written by | Screenplay: Bill Ewing Bart Gavigan Jim Hanon |
| Starring | Louie Leonardo Chad Allen Jack Guzman Chase Ellison Christina Souza Sean McGowan Beth Bailey |
| Music by | Ron Owen |
| Distributed by | Jungle Films LLC |
| Running time | 102 min. (possibly recut to 110 min)[citation needed] |
| Language | English Huao Terero |
| Budget | US$10 million |
| IMDb profile | |
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.
Tagline: "Dare to make contact!"
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[edit] 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 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.
[edit] 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.[1] such as concerns about SIL International.
There was some concern among various Christian groups that the lead actor Chad Allen, who portrays aviator missionary Nate Saint in the movie (and his son Steve Saint as an adult), is an open homosexual. 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 could not see a better actor filling the role of his father. His public pronouncements did much to quell the controversy.[citation needed]
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).[citation needed]
[edit] 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 done more than $20 million more in rentals and video sales.
[edit] 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 40% (or "rotten"); 19 positive, 28 negative reviews (avg. rating: 5.2/10)[1]
Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which is rated by users, had a mean 7.9 rating (of out 10) as of January 17, 2007 [2]
Boxofficemojo, which is also rated by users, had more than 2/3rds of viewers give the film an 'A' rating.[3]
The film won a Crystal Heart Award [4] as well as the Grand Prize for Best Dramatic Feature[5] at the 2005 Heartland Film Festival.
[edit] 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 and the real life Steve Saint in our modern day. Mincayani visited Steve Saint in America with humorous results while trying to understand American culture.
[edit] Cast
| Louie Leonardo | Mincayani |
| Chad Allen | Nate Saint/Steve Saint/Narrator |
| Jack Guzman | Kimo |
| Christina Souza | Dayuma |
| Chase Ellison | Young Steve Saint |
| Sean McGowan | Jim Elliot |
| Sara Kathryn Bakker | Rachel Saint |
| Cara Stoner | Marj Saint |
| Beth Bailey | Elisabeth Elliot |
| Stephen Caudill | Ed McCully |
| Matt Lutz | Pete Fleming |
| Chemo Mepaquito | Gikita |
| Jose Liberto Caizamo | Nampa |
| Patrick Zeller | Roger Youderian |
| Madgalena Condoba | Akawo |
