End of the Spear

There’s more to life than rashly killing people with a spear

In 1956, several American missionaries deep in the Amazon basin try to contact the warring Waodani tribe, who live near the Curaray River in eastern Ecuador. Thirty-eight years later, the son of one of the missionaries goes back to the area to reacquaint with the people he met as a child.

“End of the Spear” (2005) is a drama with some thrills based on the true story. Movies with a similar milieu include “Fitzcarraldo,” “The Emerald Forest,” “At Play in the Fields of the Lord,” “Medicine Man” and “The Lost City of Z,” even “The Mosquito Coast.” Sure, this one is more ‘faith-based’ due to the subject matter, but the director lets the facts speak for themselves with no glossing over and no sanitizing; just the facts. The viewer is left to interpret them.

If you like any of those flicks, you can’t go wrong with this one. Even if you’re a strict atheist, the evangelical element is played down. When the biblical message is conveyed, it’s presented in the same way it was given to the Waodani in real-life: In concepts or symbols from their everyday language. For instance, ‘God’ is replaced with ‘Waengongi,’ which is the creator god of the tribe.

Interestingly, a couple of the Amazonians resemble members of 80’s metal bands Anthrax (Dan Spitz and Joey Belladonna) and Manowar (Joey DeMaio). Seriously.

The movie runs 1 hour, 48 minutes, and was shot in Colon, Panama, which is about 800 miles north from where the events actually occurred.

GRADE: B/B-