Save your money for something good and enjoyable

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Blistering performances.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Preceding "Last of the Mohicans" but following "Dances with Wolves", Bruce Beresford's "Black Robe" seems to strike a neutral ground toward depicting Brian Moore's screenplay of a Jesuit on Mission bringing the Christian Faith to Huron Indians. Although I have not read the novel, the movie's cinematography, costuming, and settings are first rate to be sure. Vast landscapes of water, forests, trees, woodlands, and ice are on full display out in obvious location - there aren't too many sets. The story interestingly compares the supposed righteousness of one religion over another through dialog of characters though none seem to accept or appreciate the others religion, neither Indian nor Missionary. The acting was satisfactory, while the story is somewhat minimalist. Indeed the settings command the picture, and the movie is a worthy of watch because of them alone.

I felt compelled to register and leave a review after reading a couple of the old critics reviews. The end left one thinking it was all heading to nothing?! Bleakness for the sake of bleakness etc. The end is excellent and beautifully portrayed to the extent didn't you love them all as well. It ends with a beautifully poignant moment and the little history that comes up confirms the end for the priest was not about the result or fruits (unlike the old priest who was willing to sell baptism as magic for conversations) but the faith itself, which actually ended being forged through his journey from an intellectual concept to one of love, the message of Christianity. Do you love us Black Robe, the faces and yes, genius. Lovely pace and rhythm to it and the man who felt it was all in bleak grey weather should go to a tanning salon, Canada-winter!, I will give it 10 not because I believe it but its a hell of a lot more than 7.1 when you look at the score of some superficial s... on this site. Loved it. ps one critic thought his point about Indians having gods put across nebulously, eh clarity is not simplistic. I was clear what he was saying and it was not judgemental, that was the joy, there is no answer,live with or watch Hollywood smuck the whole of your life and don't go out. It was pretty close to art which is not common in commercial film.

The two things that are most striking about this film are its unqualified realism and the beauty of its wilderness photography.The story takes place in the 17th century in what was to be Canada; it concerns a Jesuit priest (Father Laforgue) from an upper class family in France who comes to Quebec City and is tasked with traveling through the wilderness some 1,500 miles west to work at the Huron Mission there. Laforgue is accompanied on his journey by a party of Algonquin Indians as well as by Daniel, a young French interpreter who is primarily just up for the adventure.As the journey proceeds and the seasons move from fall into a harsh winter the mood of the film becomes ever more bleak. The continuing culture clashes between the Algonqins and Laforgue are sometimes humorous but are ultimately sad in their revealing insights into how difficult it is for one culture to understand another. One scene has Laforgue transcribing a brief story told by the Algonquin chief and then having Daniel take the transcription some distance and read it back to another tribesman. Laforgue is trying to show the Indians that he has much to teach them, but their interpretation of the incident is that he must be some sort of demon. When the party meets up with some members of another tribe and they see Laforgue dressed in his black robe and ask if he is intelligent, the Algonquin chief quickly answers, "No." On the other hand Laforgue views the Indians in their current unenlightened state as savages.Not all is love and harmony between the various Indian tribes. When the Lafourgue party encounters a band of Iroquois there are some scenes of violence and torture where the squeamish may want to avert their eyes.Daniel, speaking the Algonquin language and having taken up with the chief's daughter, begins to have some understanding of the Indians and their ways. One interesting exchange between Daniel and Lagorgue is:Daniel: They believe that in the forest at night the dead can see.Laforgue: It's childish Daniel.Daniel: Is it harder to believe than in men of paradise where we all sit on clouds and look at God?Laforgue's most singular personal characteristic is his unwavering faith. His reaction to sexual temptation is confession of sin and self flogging. He sincerely believes that Christianity can bring salvation to the Indians, but the Indians have their own gods and view Laforgue with incomprehension. The film's success in making us understand both of these positions gives the ultimate conclusion a dimension of tragedy.

The following quote might scare the kids; yet read it, because I deconstruct it after-wards.'No film better captures the strangeness and complexity of the Native-European collision in North America. The courage, fear, religious fervor, confusion, nobility, and savagery of the natives and Jesuits are conveyed with an almost anthropological dispassion, with the beautiful, brutal Canadian wilderness portrayed as the ultimate, sovereign force.'—wrote somewhere a _blogger; well, pals, he couldn't be farer from the truth. I don't like to bash a fellow _blogger—but this one is wholly wrong. Why? Why, fair reader? Because:--(1)—BLACK ROBE is a enormously enjoyable movie—a very fun movie; literate and original, yes, but in a mainstream and discreet ,unassuming way; Beresford is no Godard or other experimental directors; consequently, BLACK ROBE is straight fun, a dramatic thriller; --(2)—there are no scientific whims, no savant antics—it's a suspenseful drama, a thrilling and hugely palatable movie;--(3)—and where did he came with that sovereign nature from? Beresford's flick is entirely about people.On the funny side, there's sex, there's violence and brutality; on the priestly side, the movie's thorough and keen. It's nothing above Beresford's head, as it were—but an original, likable and straight movie.I remember that Lothaire Bluteau, a Canadian, was the lead.