Yesterday, Jess and I watched the movie, “End of the Spear”. It is based on an incredible, true story. I went into the theater knowing very little about the movie and Jess went in knowing absolutely nothing about the movie. We both left the theater in absolute awe and ready to tell anyone we saw to drop what they were doing to go and see it immediately. We instantly called my sister and parents and told them to do all that they could to see the movie as soon as possible.
The movie revolves around a pretty well-known story (in Christian bubbles, that is) about 5 missionary men who went into the jungles of Equador to a tribe that ended up killing them. One of these missionary man’s son, Steven Saint goes BACK to this tribe and lives among them sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
I can honestly say that this movie has been produced with A LOT MORE QUALITY than ANY other “Christian Film” I have ever seen. I am not embarrassed to tell anyone to go and see this film. I can’t say the same about “Left Behind” or “The Omega Code” and other similar movie-attempts.
It is PG-13 because of some tribal-nudity as well as some pretty intense violence (did I mention that the natives killed the missionaries with spears?)
It’s an incredible look into the lives some some extraordinary men who quite literally found out how “to die is gain” as the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21. I would encourage everyone to take in this movie while it is still in theaters as HALF of the procedes received from the movie will be donated to missions organizations.
After seeing the movie yesterday, today I borrowed from our church library the movie, “Beyond the Gates of Splendor”. This is an hour-and-a-half documentary on the real-life story about the four missionary men and their families that the movie, “End of the Spear” is based on. After seeing the movie and now the documentary, I am VERY glad to have now had a peek into the REAL story that is behind the Hollywood production. I will say that Hollywood did an excellent job depicting the real-life story!
“Beyond the Gates of Splendor” is filled with interviews from the wives of the missionary men, including Mrs. Elizabeth Elliot. It is also constantly commentated by Steven Saint. It is filled with detail after detail of the lives of the missionary men and their families as well as some more in-depth look at the culture that surrounds the tribal peoples that the movie is about. There are interviews with key tribe-members that are portrayed in the movie – and even a humorous look into one of the tribe-member’s trips to the States a few years ago!
This documentary is available for rent at local video stores (or it can be checked out at our church library if you attend WWC!)
