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Review #10 of 365
Film: End of the Spear [PG-13] 111 minutes
WIP: $13.00
When 1st Seen: 20 January 2006
Where Viewed: Carmike Cinema 10, Grand Forks, ND
Time: 9:40 p.m.
Official Site for the Movie: endofthespear.com
Review Dedicated to: Jason F. of Eagle River, WI
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DVD |
It has been a shaky couple of days for me movie-wise—meaning it’s been a while since I saw a good one. Fortunately, as it was Friday today, the movie-release rationers permitted a couple of new films to debut for the regular folks.
Well, End of the Spear…I love the title due to the double meaning. I had a feeling that this film was going to be very, very good when I saw the poster. There was just enough mystery in the eyes of the faces as to provoke my curiosity. As it turns out, the film which claims to be based on true events—and I have no reason to doubt these claims as I, like almost everyone, believe everything I see and hear in movies—is all about human curiosity and the role it plays in our unyielding desire to understand the unknown and the willingness of some human beings to die in order that others may understand. In this case, the mutually curious beings are USA missionaries and an indigenous, Ecuadorian people known as the Waodani. With stunning visuals, stirring music, an incredible cast of near-unknowns with the exception of Chad Allen—you remember the little autistic kid from St. Elsewhere and then, later, Dr. Quinn’s son—with an outstanding dual performance portraying both a father and later his grown up son, End of the Spear will steal you along for an incredibly rare voyage into the Amazon jungle and the lives of a people that had lived in relative seclusion from the outside world for centuries. These Waodani, rumor had it, have a penchant for honor and killing each other as a way of establishing their own strength necessary for their ultimate ‘crossing of the boa’—which seems to be their equivalent to gaining good grace with God and going to heaven. Their culture, their language, and their ideas about the way the world should work are so different from most anything the outside, mechanized world knows. Indeed, so is the accuracy of their spear throws. Quite quickly, you will find yourself growing more and more curious about the lives of the Waodani and their inevitable intersection with those of the missionaries drawn into the service of saving the souls of others and ultimately having their own souls saved instead.
Even more compelling than the tiny glimpse this movie provides as to what it might have been like to be Margaret Mead, are the portrayals of these complicated individuals namely Nate Saint (Mr. Allen) the missionary man and his foil the Waodani warrior, Mincayani, played by Louie Leonardo. Both men do a fascinating job with their roles. It was incredible, especially, watching Mr. Leonardo taking Micayani down a very indirect path of self-discovery to the ultimate benefit of all Waodani. The rest of the cast, both those playing the Waodani and the other missionary families, was terrific. Chase Ellison, who played Nate’s beloved son, Steve, was also a standout with real future star potential.
By the end, I have to admit this film drew out my strongest emotions. I, too, became attached to the Waodani and their survival. Also, the film caused me to be somewhat introspective and think, much as did Paradise Now, about the value of human life, the value of family, and the value of revenge or a culture founded upon it. As I have said before, my favorite movies are ones that take me places I have not been and encourage me to think. Let End of the Spear pierce your heart as it did mine. Let End of the Spear tantalize your curiosity and deliver. This is a rare movie where the story and the message and the acting all collide for one, moving cinematic achievement.
Sidebar: Movie Rationing
For the past couple of years, at least twice each year, the results of the box office are released. And, for a few years, they have been disappointing. A lot of entertainment theorists speculate that the main reason for the decline in box office receipts is that fewer people are going to the movies though they are spending more for tickets which, in my mind, should even the figures out. Why are fewer people going to the movies, the theorists continue, because TV is getting better with great cable shows, video games are more fun, there are activities such as bowling and other sports, etc. My feeling though is that while each of these may be true, they are not causing a decline in box office receipts. If anything, the cross-fertilization between them is spurring the success of both. I have a different idea as to why the box office figures are on the decline. I attribute it to movie rationing. There used to be a time when there might be 5 movies opening on any given weekend. Certainly, there was a long period of years when you could reliably count on, at least three, real, big studio movies each weekend. And, then along came the blockbusters. These were movies that earned an incredible amount of money in their opening weekend. These were movies with huge stars and super famous directors like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Jerry Bruckheimer. Somebody got the idea that it was a financial disaster to put out a movie the same weekend as a blockbuster. No studio wants to open its film opposite Batman Begins. The idea is that if you try, no one will go see it because they will all be at Batman Begins. Let’s look at the history of last summer’s releases as an example.
May
Week 1: Kingdom of Heaven and House of Wax
Week 2: Kicking and Screaming and Mindhunters
Week 3: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Week 4: The Longest Yard and Madagascar
June
Week 1: Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Deep Blue, and Cinderella Man
Week 2: The Honeymooners and Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Week 3: Batman Begins
Week 4: Herbie: Fully Loaded, George Romero’s Land of the Dead, Bewitched
July
Week 1: The War of the Worlds
Week 2: Dark Water and Fantastic Four
Week 3: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers
Week 4: The Island and The Bad News Bears
Week 5: Sky High, Stealth, and Must Love Dogs
August
Week 1: Broken Flowers and The Dukes of Hazzard
Week 2: The Skeleton Key, Four Brothers, and Deuce Bigalow 2
Week 3: Red Eye, 40 Year-Old Virgin, and The Brothers Grim
Week 4: The Cave and The Constant Gardner.
Whew! This was one of the worst summers in history come to think of it. There were, however, 21 films, one not on this list that broke the $50 million threshold. The one not on the list was March of the Penguins, which I’m sure, surprised everyone with its huge box office take. Now, in keeping with the hypothesis, you will notice that there are never two blockbusters in the same week. They are carefully staggered to, at most, one per week. What would have happened if they had released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory AND War of the Worlds on the same weekend? Chaos? Well, the rationing idea is that if they were both released on the same weekend, neither would open to huge figures, and huge figures are what make a movie sound appealing to audiences and generate more interest in the film and more ticket sales. After all, do YOU want to be the ONLY person who didn’t see Blah Blah on opening weekend? This is a very short sighted view and anyone who’s gone to see a blockbuster opening weekend knows that if it happens to be sold out, you are not likely to go home, you are likely to pick another movie, and that’s one area where I think Hollywood movie rationing doesn’t work. On top of the fact that not everyone wanted to see the War of the Worlds or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the first place as they were quite familiar with both movies. So, why not put them on the same weekend? The point is that if you release fewer blockbusters, you are going to make less money. Sorry, but The Perfect Man vs. Batman Begins? How many people saw The Perfect Man? I cannot even tell you who is in it without looking it up. All I went to see that weekend was Batman Begins, and I only saw it once that weekend, and it was the only movie I saw that weekend, though I did see it a second and third time later in the summer. If Hollywood wants to get people to the movies, they need to put out more movies. They need to let blockbusters collide and not ration them to one per week. They need to stop worrying about cutting into each other’s box office. Go ahead and release the new Superman movie on the same day as Spiderman III. Go ahead, I dare you. I bet you both movies still do block buster business. However, if you continue to ration the blockbusters down to 52 a year, you are only going to earn $50 million times 52. If you release 100, well, you get the idea. Ah, but people say you don’t know a film is going to be a blockbuster. True, nobody knew that the Spiderman movie would break all sorts of records. So, release an untested film with franchise potential with two other blockbusters. Seriously, who thought that Star Wars III wasn’t going to crack $100 million within two weeks? Other studios were so scared they didn’t open anything big that week. Interestingly enough, both the Longest Yard and Madagascar cracked the $100 million blockbuster status and both were released the next week and both were untested. Hmm. Starting to see my point. Here was a case where their rationing failed and surprise surprise. Guess what, they didn’t think Madagascar or the remake of The Longest Yard would do that well, that’s why they put them the week after Star Wars. Guess what, all the people who don’t care for Star Wars, sorry but there are a few, then had a movie to go see! And they did. To me, this totally proves my point, though I could be delusional at 2 a.m. Stop rationing movies. Roll them out when ready. Give us a chance to go see them. Stop worrying about competition at the box office. Competition actually helps rather than hindering films. The more often people that go to the movies the better. Good films bring in box office! Make more and better movies and people will go. People don’t like to sit at home all day no matter how good their home theater is nor how fun their video games are. People like to go out, have fun, see a movie, grab a bite to eat, meet other people, etc. Well’ that’s my hypothesis anyway!
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Now Available for Purchase on DVD and VHS
DVD and VHS Options Available for Purchase
End Of The Spear [VHS] (2006) VHS
End Of The Spear [DVD] (2006) DVD
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