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`Black Robe" tells the story of the first contacts between the Huron Indians of Quebec and the Jesuit missionaries from France who came to convert them to Catholicism, and ended up delivering them into the hands of their enemies. Those first brave Jesuit priests did not realize, in the mid-17th century, that they were pawns of colonialism, of course; they were driven by a burning faith and an absolute conviction that they were doing the right thing. Only much later was it apparent that the European settlement of North America led to the destruction of the original inhabitants, not their salvation.
The film, a bleak and dour affair that seems filmed mostly under gray, glowering skies, stars Lothaire Bluteau in the central role of young Father Laforgue. Bluteau’s name may not ring a bell, but if you saw "Jesus of Montreal" you will recognize him immediately as the young actor who played the title role, gaunt and intense. In this film, he undertakes a long and arduous journey in winter, guided by the Algonquins, threatened by the Iroquois. It is a torturous experience, and "Black Robe" visualizes it in one of the most realistic depictions of Indian life I have seen.
The architectural details of the Indian dwellings, their methods of hunting and food procurement, the way they used absolute cooperation and trust of each other as a weapon against the deadly climate - these are all made clear in the movie. It also becomes clear that the Indians had their own religious and belief systems already in place, and that none of them had much use for Jesus and the other gifts of Christianity. The most pathetic character in the movie is a "converted" Indian, whose crucifix around his neck represents not a leap of faith, but an accommodation of convenience with those who could give him what he wanted.
The first contacts between North American Indians and Europeans were probably a great deal more like those depicted in "Black Robe" than like the stirring adventures in "Dances with Wolves." Both sides were no doubt motivated much more by matters of religious belief and personal destiny than by a desire to get to know one another.
One of the achievements of "Black Robe," which is based on research and a novel by Brian Moore , is that it re-creates a time when Christians were dogmatic and unswervingly convinced of their rightness; today, when we talk of the "fanaticism" of religions like Islam, we forget that the modern religions of the West, so diluted by psychobabble, were once fierce and righteous enough to send men halfway around the world seeking martyrdom.
Of all the Christian missionaries, the Jesuits were the most far-ranging and adventuresome. And they were everywhere, not only in Quebec, but in South America (see "The Mission") and Japan (see "Shogun"). Movies about their exploits tend to romanticize them, however, and to fit their actions into the outlines of conventional movie plots. The reality was no doubt more like "Black Robe," in which lonely men put their lives on the line in a test of faith, under conditions of appalling suffering and hardship.
Even granted these truths, however, "Black Robe" is a hard movie to enjoy. It was directed by Bruce Beresford , an Australian who seems to specialize in films about cultures in conflict. His credits include not only the famous "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Tender Mercies," but also "The Fringe Dwellers," a wonderful film about an Aborigine teenage girl in modern Australia, and "Mr. Johnson," about an African who takes a job in a British colonial outpost, and finds he does not belong with either the British or his own people.
Mr. Johnson bears a strong resemblance to the accommodating Indian in "Black Robe," who also leaves one group without finding a home in another. Perhaps that was the theme that attracted Beresford - the unhappy fate of those caught between cultures in irreconcilable conflict. He must also have been intrigued by the fate of Father Laforgue, the Bluteau character, who lacks the words to reason with another young Frenchman who falls in love with an Indian woman, and who has the will but perhaps not the strength to withstand the tortures of the Iroquois, when he and his companions are captured.
"Black Robe" is a film of enormous interest for those who care about the early history of Europeans in North America, but for ordinary moviegoers it will be very tough going. It is a much more rigorous and despairing work than a novel like Willa Cather’s Shadows on the Rock, which tells the story of the French in Quebec with serenity and an unshakable faith in human nature. And at the end, there is no deliverance.
I will not reveal the conclusion of the film, other than to say that when it was over, I sat there in a state of depressed suspension, wondering if that could possibly be all there was.
Matters were not helped by the words that appeared on the screen at the end, telling us what happened during the years to follow. It was as if the entire story of "Black Robe" was a prelude to nothing.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
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Film credits.
Black Robe (1991)
Rated R For Areas Of Strong Violence and Sensuality
105 minutes
Lothaire Bluteau as Father Laforgue
Aden Young as Daniel
Sandrine Holt as Annuka
August Schellenberg as Chomina
Tantoo Cardinal as Wife Of Chomina
Frank Wilson as Father Jerome
- Tim Wellburn
Produced by
- Stephane Reichel
- Robert Lantos
- Sue Miliken
Photographed by
- Peter James
- Brian Moore
- Georges Delerue
Directed by
- Bruce Beresford
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Review/Film; Saving the Huron Indians: A Disaster for Both Sides
By Vincent Canby
- Oct. 30, 1991
Of all the tales that make up the saga of France's 17th-century exploration and settlement of what was to be called Canada, one of the most heroic, brutal and finally disastrous is the story of the Huron Mission.
Founded and maintained by Jesuit priests at great cost in physical suffering to themselves and to the Hurons, the mission endured for two decades before it was abandoned in the early 1650's. The Jesuit plan had been to convert the stationary Huron tribes, whose members would then become missionaries to their nomadic Indian brothers.
The Hurons occupied the territories west of Lake Huron. They tolerated the proselytizing Jesuits without embracing them. They accepted the Christian faith whenever it was convenient and would later revert to their old ways.
The Jesuits developed their own tricks. They were not above surreptitiously baptizing a Huron baby while pretending to give it sips of sugared water. Epidemics, famine and wars with the Iroquois eventually brought about the end of the mission and the end of the Huron nation. Piety backfired.
This epic story provides the background for Bruce Beresford's "Black Robe," which opens today at the Beekman Theater.
"Black Robe" is no over-decorated, pumped-up boy's adventure yarn like "Dances With Wolves." It is an attempt to find the drama in the confrontation of one Jesuit priest, full of burning faith but hopelessly naive, with both the horrors and the crude, atavistic splendors of the wilderness.
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MOVIE REVIEW : An Intelligent Epic of Clashing Cultures
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The year is 1634. French North America is a wilderness of startling vistas and staggering beauty. It is inhabited by the Algonquin, the Huron, the Iroquois and others, a wide range of native tribes, each with its own separate customs and distinctive culture. The Jesuit Father Laforgue, however, sees this not at all. To him the wilderness is just that, a fearful place ruled by the devil and peopled by savages whose only chance to enter the kingdom of heaven is through his aid.
This is the world of “Black Robe,” an absorbing intellectual epic thoughtfully directed by Bruce Beresford from the novel by screenwriter Brian Moore. Its tale of cultures in inevitable conflict, of driven clerics trying to come to terms with indigenous populations, is an oft-told one, but “Black Robe” (at the Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza) transports us so vividly and convincingly to its physical time and place that we hardly notice. What is harder to excuse, though, is the film’s particular discretion, its reluctance to go very far beyond that splendid surface and probe into the psyche of its title character.
“Black Robe” is what the tribal leaders call Laforgue, who never appears in public without his trademark cassock, wide-brimmed black hat and solemn frown. He has arrived in Quebec, capital of New France, determined to travel 1,500 miles upstream to begin service at a mission to convert the Huron to Catholicism. With great reluctance, Chomina (veteran Canadian actor August Schellenberg), an Algonquin chief, agrees to escort him to his destination.
No one expects the journey to be easy, but it turns out to be a particularly harrowing one, filled with considerable violence and peril, and made more complicated by the presence of Daniel (Aden Young), a young Frenchman who is more interested in the chief’s fetching daughter Annuka (Sandrine Holt) than in the greater glory of God.
Bruce Beresford (“Tender Mercies,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Mr. Johnson”) has always been a careful director, the type who measures twice, cuts once and tries to see all sides of a situation, qualities that serve him well here. Just as, in an early scene, he cuts back and forth from the Algonquin Chomina to Champlain, the French leader, as they both dress for the same ceremonial parlay, so he goes back and forth philosophically, allowing both parties to state the issues as they see them.
To the tribes, little knowing the military power and national will that stands behind this thin, stubborn man, Laforgue’s ideas seem preposterous. A paradise without tobacco, the Algonquin ask, uncomprehendingly. Without women ? Surely the Black Robe jests. Even the Frenchman Daniel begins to see the error of his Eurocentric ways, pointing out, like an early Dances With Wolves prototype, that the Indians have their own spiritual values and even live communally in Christian fashion.
To the dedicated and devout Laforgue, however, all this is totally beside the point. A zealot for Christ who is liable to end a casual conversation by saying “May death find you with God in mind,” he perfectly typifies the unquestioning rigidity of belief that allowed decent men to go out into the world and attempt to turn it upside down.
It is much to the credit of Moore’s script and Beresford’s direction that we have as much sympathy for Laforgue as we do. As played by Lothaire Bluteau (who, appropriately enough, was the lead in “Jesus of Montreal”), the priest has a classically aesthetic, not to say sepulchral, look about him, and the film makes his absolute sincerity unquestioned. Hardly in this for reasons of ego or personal gain, he truly believes that where the Almighty is concerned, he is the only one with all the right answers.
In the end, though, a creative work invariably reflects its time, and it is Laforgue and not the locals who comes to question his ideas. Unfortunately, since the film has found no way to show us the priest’s thought patterns, we never really find out what drives him or even much about his change of heart. He begins “Black Robe” (rated R for areas of strong violence and sensuality) as a cipher and pretty much stays that way throughout. It is rare to fault a film for being too reticent, but that is the case here.
Making things more difficult is Bluteau’s lack of expressiveness as an actor, and the conceit of having the non-Indian cast, which would have been both more comfortable and more true-to-life with French dialogue, speak exclusively in awkwardly accented English.
Still, it is hard to shake the memory of “Black Robe.” For one thing, cinematographer Peter James has done a remarkable job capturing the beauty and the mystery of a virgin continent (the film was shot in Canada), and production designer Herbert Pinter and costume designers John Hay and Renee April have given the film a tangible reality.
But even more than that, it is difficult not to think forward 100 and 200 years, to the pitched and bloody battles these competing civilizations would fight, and to understand more fully how misguided the idea of a nominally “civilizing” mission was and how awful a price was paid for its ultimate success.
‘Black Robe’
Lothaire Bluteau: Father Laforgue
Aden Young: Daniel
Sandrine Holt: Annuka
August Schellenberg: Chomina
A Samson production, released by the Samuel Goldwyn Co. Director Bruce Beresford. Producers Robert Lantos, Stephanie Reiehel, Sue Milliken. Executive producers Jake Eberts, Brian Moore, Denis Heroux. Screenplay Moore, from his novel. Cinematographer Peter James. Editor Tim Wellburn. Costumes John Hay, Renee April. Music Georges Delerue. Production design Herbert Pinter. Sound Gary Wilkins. Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes.
MPAA-rated R (areas of strong violence and sensuality).
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Black Robe Reviews
Black Robe is a spectacle of haunting beauty...
Full Review | Oct 15, 2019
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 18, 2006
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 10, 2005
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 25, 2005
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 12, 2005
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 8, 2004
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 14, 2004
This compelling tale of adventure set in 17th century Canada is a spiritual classic
Full Review | Jul 12, 2003
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 3, 2002
Full Review | Original Score: 74/100 | Oct 9, 2001
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 1, 2000
Black Robe is a film of enormous interest for those who care about the early history of Europeans in North America, but for ordinary moviegoers it will be very tough going.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000
By Peter Travers
Peter Travers
The Sioux call Kevin Costner’s Lieutenant Dunbar Dances With Wolves because that’s what he does; the Algonquins call Lothaire Bluteau’s Father Laforgue Black Robe because that’s what he wears. Laforgue is a French Jesuit priest arriving in Quebec in 1634 to begin a brutally hazardous journey up the St. Lawrence River to bring the good word to the Huron Indians. Helping him are a group of Algonquins led by Chomina (August Schellenberg) and his family; accompanying them is Daniel (Aden Young), a French carpenter and translator, who falls into instant lust for Chomina’s exquisite daughter, Annuka (Sandrine Holt).
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Though the film embraces the Indians’ culture and uses subtitles to translate their languages, it’s hardly a rip-off of Costner’s three-hour Oscar winner. Writer Brian Moore (The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne) has adapted the acclaimed novel he wrote in 1985, and director Bruce Beresford ( Driving Miss Daisy ) keeps throwing easy assumptions back in our faces. Black Robe runs only 100 minutes, and yet its physical and spiritual challenges have an epic scope. Cinematographer Peter James (Mister Johnson) captures the fierce beauty of the wilderness without the usual overlay of Hollywood gloss.
Bluteau, who starred in Jesus of Montreal , is remarkable as the priest who whips himself with branches to quiet his sexual urges but can find no method to quell his self-doubt. Though Father Laforgue is at the center of the movie, the Indians – who are neither canonized nor patronized – are its focus. Watching Chomina (given unforced dignity by Schellenberg) use his dreams as a guide for life or Annuka allow herself to be violated so her father can escape the torturous fate the Iroquois visited on her mother and brother, Laforgue rethinks his notions of sin and redemption. In the course of this raw and jolting adventure, Beresford takes full measure of what is lost when tradition is trampled in the name of an intransigent faith.
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First official co-production between Canada and Australia is a magnificently staged combination of top talents delivering a gripping and tragic story about a 17th-century Jesuit priest's expedition through remote areas of 'New France' (Quebec). Indian dialog is translated into English sub-titles.
By Variety Staff
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First official co-production between Canada and Australia is a magnificently staged combination of top talents delivering a gripping and tragic story about a 17th-century Jesuit priest’s expedition through remote areas of ‘New France’ (Quebec). Indian dialog is translated into English sub-titles.
Saga begins in 1634 at Fort Champlain, where newly arrived French Jesuit priest Lothaire Bluteau (whom the Indians call ‘Black Robe’ because of his austere garb), is assigned to a difficult and dangerous journey 1,500 miles north to the mission outpost of Ihonatiria. He’s accompanied by a handful of friendly Algonquin Indians, led by the chief (August Schellenberg), his wife (Tantoo Cardinal), daughter (Sandrine Holt) and young son.
Also joining the party is Aden Young as a young French carpenter who develops a passionate relationship with the Algonquin girl. The travelers are captured, beaten and tortured. The priest arrives at his destination to find the priest in charge (Frank Wilson) dying and the local Indians decimated by a fever brought by the white men.
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Director Bruce Beresford and writer Brian Moore [adapting his own novel] have made this intriguing yarn a small epic of endurance. The production has an austere beauty and thoughtful approach. Bluteau gives a moving performance in the central role, and Schellenberg is particularly notable as the friendly Chomina.
Canada - Australia
- Production: Alliance/Samson. Director Bruce Beresford; Producer Robert Lantos, Stephane Reichel, Sue Milliken; Screenplay Brian Moore; Camera Peter James; Editor Tim Wellburn; Music Georges Delerue; Art Director Herbert Pinter
- Crew: (Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1991. Running time: 100 MIN.
- With: Lothaire Bluteau Aden Young Sandrine Holt August Schellenberg Tantoo Cardinal Frank Wilson
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- Duration: 100 mins
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- Director: Bruce Beresford
- Screenwriter: Brian Moore
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Black Robe Reviews
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In 1634, a Jesuit missionary arrives in the New World hoping to convert the Huron Native American tribe to Catholicism and, incidentally, to also expedite the French colonisation of Quebec.
Despite an occasionally plodding screenplay, this white-man-in-the-wilderness drama goes DANCES WITH WOLVES one better by showing more genuine respect for its subject. Directed by Bruce Beresford, BLACK ROBE was adapted by Brian Moore from his own novel, which, in turn, was based on letters and journals written by Jesuit missionaries, whom the Indians dubbed "black robes," in the New World during the 17th century. The story revolves around Father Laforgue (JESUS OF MONTREAL's Lothaire Bluteau) who is sent by Champlain (Jean Brousseau), the founder and governor of Quebec, 1,500 miles north to a frontier Jesuit mission to assist in the conversion of the Huron tribe to Catholicism in 1634. Pledging to guide and protect Laforgue, Algonquin leader Chomina (August Schellenberg) brings his wife, young son and beautiful teenage daughter Annuka (Sandrine Holt), as well as a small party of braves and their families. Driven as much by his passion for Annuka as his aspirations to the priesthood, young French settler Daniel (Aden Young) also volunteers to accompany Laforgue on what turns into a grueling journey. Returning to the theme of his first international hit, BREAKER MORANT, as well as the more recent MISTER JOHNSON, Beresford's emphasis in BLACK ROBE is on European presumption in forcing native peoples to adopt Western culture. Nevertheless, BLACK ROBE tries to distinguish itself by pretending to a basic, at times brutal, "honesty" in its depiction of native culture. The Indians in BLACK ROBE aren't the starry-eyed noble savages that strain credibility in DANCES WITH WOLVES. Far from it: there are scenes of Indian brutishness that rival anything in overtly racist Hollywood films. These are balanced by a sympathetic portrayal of Laforgue's Indian companions, who appear as relatively complex human beings. Their spiritual beliefs ultimately impress Laforgue, though it happens too late to be of much help to anyone.
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Add to your films…Press Tab to complete, Enter to create A moderator has locked this field. Add to lists Where to watchDirected by Bruce Beresford In the winter of 1634, an extraordinary man began a perilous journey into the North American wilderness.Missionary Father LaForgue travels to the New World in hopes of converting Algonquin Indians to Catholicism. Accepted, though warily, by the Indians, LaForgue travels with the Indians using his strict Catholic rules and ideals to try and impose his religion. Lothaire Bluteau Sandrine Holt August Schellenberg Tantoo Cardinal Lawrence Bayne Aden Young Billy Two Rivers Wesley Côté Frank Wilson François Tassé Jean Brousseau Yvan Labelle Raoul Max Trujillo James Bobbish Denis Lacroix Gilles Plante Gordon Tootoosis Marthe Turgeon Claude Préfontaine Deano Clavet Jean-Raymond Châles Paul Stewart Jean-Jacques Blanchet Marco Baron Patrick Tenassco George Pachanos Minor Mustain Don Brisebois Jean Raphael Show All… Guy Provencher Joe De Laronde Linlyn Lue Bonfield Marcoux Wanda Obomsawin Jean-Pierre Pérusse Gérard Soler Alison Reid Brenda Adams Denis Plante Daniel Thonon Cordelia Beresford Annie Bearskin Doreen Stevens Joseph Campeau Eric Johnston Mirya Obomsawin Zoe Leigh Hopkins Rodrigue Boivin Irvin Hill Valerie Decontie Waylon Hare Robert Wylde Walter Jacobs Helen Bobish Atkinson John Tenasco Jonathan Blacksmith Earl Danyluk Arnold Eyah-Saulteux Harrison Liu Director DirectorBruce Beresford Producers ProducersStéphane Reichel Robert Lantos Sue Milliken Eric Norlen Writer WriterBrian Moore Casting CastingClare Walker Editor EditorTim Wellburn Cinematography CinematographyPeter James Executive Producers Exec. ProducersBrian Moore Jake Eberts Denis Héroux Camera Operators Camera OperatorsDanny Batterham Julian Chojnacki Rod Crombie Production Design Production DesignHerbert Pinter Art Direction Art DirectionGavin Mitchell Set Decoration Set DecorationRéal Proulx Stunts StuntsMinor Mustain Composer ComposerGeorges Delerue Costume Design Costume DesignJohn Hay Renée April Samson Productions First Choice Canadian Communication Corporation Alliance Films Australia Canada Primary LanguageSpoken languages. Cree English Latin Releases by Date05 sep 1991, theatrical limited, 01 nov 1991, 04 oct 1991, 23 sep 1993, 14 sep 1994, 04 jun 2002, releases by country.
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101 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page Popular reviews Review by Kilo_Orange 5 A passion-project for director Bruce Beresford which he quickly made after winning Oscars for Driving Miss Daisy (1989), while he still had sway with producers, and an adaptation of a fairly historically accurate novel by Brian Moore, who wrote the script. Moore was a devout Catholic and Beresford an agnostic, so we get the artistic clash one sees in movies like The Exorcist. But the director is king and Beresford's agnosticism sets the ultimate tone, leaving one of those movies that sees priests in a respectful yet worldly sense - men who just had strong personal convictions and wanted to do good deeds, rather than being servants of the supernatural. Our main character is the kind of priest you might…  Review by Wirthit ★★★★½ 4 “Do you love us?” Let me make up for my slight chiding of Bruce Beresford’s Breaker Morant by saying this about his Black Robe: This is a great film. There is nothing I can say against it, nor would I wish to. I loved this movie. It’s about a missionary journeying through Canada to bring Catholicism to the natives. You can already picture the typical movie of the period: 90’s revisionist, with all the natives noble and smart, and one with nature, and all the Europeans stupid and evil. Meanwhile, the film is a sermon beating you over the head with platitudes you learned in kindergarten. You’ve seen it before. The above does not describe Black Robe. In Black Robe,…  Review by Terése Flynn ★★★ Part of my Scavenger Hunt #3 list. Task: 9. A film featuring American Indians! Black Robe promotes itself as an adventure film, but if you expect adventure you will get disappointed. Much in the same way as if you expected a marvelous adventure if you, as a European, went to the "New world" in the 1600th. Because this is what Black Robe is about. High expectations being turned into dust by the reality that meets them. The Jesuit priest is sure of that his message of God and Jesus Christ will be embraced by the "wildlings", and ultimately make them "civilized". But it doesn't take long before he realize that they seem content with their own beliefs, that all his…  Review by talisencrw (William Wood) ★★★★½ 1 This was astonishing to me. I was greatly intrigued when I read notorious British film reviewer Leslie Halliwell's Top 1000 and saw this around the #450 mark, if I'm not mistaken. My university library had the VHS of it, and I watched it, completely mesmerized. The ending is haunting and the absolute beauty of the compositions made me resolutely proud to be Canadian.  Review by Scout Tafoya ★★★★★ www.patreon.com/posts/106231706 It has the speed and intensity of Boetticher, the and the agenda of an anti-western, which makes it a rare breed of film in which misery is such a feature the director feels no need to linger over the violence anymore than he does the crisis of belief at the film's core. Both define life when missionaries decides the world was theirs to convert, and so both maintain their grip on the frame in the form of Bluteau's haunted expression. So as with the constant biting cold, this man makes his spiritual belief a nagging condition with which everyone must learn to endure because it wasn't going to change. 4 centuries later it hasn't gone anywhere. There are…  Review by joshmatthews ★★★★ This movie fits no agenda well, thereby allowing itself to be hammered from any ideological direction. That is part of its lower rating (3.3/5.0 here currently). The movie depicts possible cooperation and amalgamation of natives and French circa the 1630s in Quebec, against a number of "forces" that might get the French or the cooperating Indians killed. One of those is religious belief. The natives, Algonquins being the good guys here, see the French as ridiculous and believe their dreams are reality. The medicine man hates the Jesuit, calling him a "demon," yet himself looking demonic. Who is the demon, and who is the father? Two questions haunt the entire movie, and the Jesuit priest featured throughout may or may…  Review by Zoë 🐝 ★ 2 I had to watch this white savior nonsense for class. A boring, racist movie about a white guy who grows because he learns to see the American Indian people he wants to “save” as human beings. And of course most of the indigenous characters don’t survive, but the two white men do. Black Robe’s only female character, who is American Indian, is endlessly sexualised and then is raped, using her sexuality in order to help the white characters escape. An absolutely horrifyingly sexist and racist portrayal of an indigenous woman. I hated everything about this minus a few kinda pretty shots. This review barely breaks the surface of how problematic this movie is.  Review by Evan Zottl ★ 2 had to watch this for my history class it was so bad  Review by C_elegans ★★★½ Um auf die Idee der Missionierung in völlig fremden Kulturen zu kommen, ist ein hohes Maß an Idealismus aber auch Größenwahn notwendig. Das dokumentiert "Black Robe" ganz gut. Letztendlich wird nicht ganz klar, warum sich das indigene Volk zunächst auf den Trip mit den zwei Franzosen einlässt. Aberglaube und Ehre spielen im weiteren Verlauf zwischenzeitlich eine zu große Rolle. Zu Gute halten muss man dem Streifen aber, dass er keine feste Haltung für oder gegen die Missionare einnimmt. Die tollen kanadischen Naturkulissen bieten außerdem hohe Schauwerte.  Review by Luke Thorne ★★★★ Bruce Beresford takes charge of this historical drama. A young Jesuit priest seeks to convert the Indian tribes in Canada while also trying to survive the harsh winter. Starring Lothaire Bluteau and Aden Young. Set in 1634, this movie concentrates on the journeys of Father LaForgue (Lothaire Bluteau), a Jesuit priest called upon to look for a distant Canadian task enclosed by Huron defrayals. LaForgue, guided by a gang of suspicious yet gentle Algonquin natives, goes on board a hike across unacquainted and deceitful land. The young priest’s tiny party fends off the nasty assaults of the Iroquois tribe before lastly reaching their journey’s end. There, LaForgue discovers the assignment in a horrendous condition. Lothaire Bluteau gives a very good…  Review by TajLV ★★★½ ============================= Wild West Summer Challenge 2021 ============================= Task #7 - Watch a Western with an Australian connection After several false starts by Canada's Alliance Films, Australian filmmaker Bruce Beresford got the final nod to direct Irish author Brian Moore's adaptation of his own 1985 novel of missionary life in 17th-century Canada. Lothaire Bluteau plays the main character, Father Paul Laforgue, a Jesuit priest who has come from France to help convert members of the Huron tribe on the western frontier. In Quebec, he learns enough of the Algonquin language to communicate with local natives, and they agree to help him journey to the Huron village of Ihonatiria, where a church has already been established. However, the long passage by canoe…  Review by Jacob ★★★ The comparisons to Malick's The New World are difficult to avoid due to the period and conqueror's contact with the Algonquin. Beresford avoids the interiority present in The New World refraining from romanticising the period with both "natives" and the French presented in a light that sits somewhere between caricatured and harsh realism; his focus is seemingly on showing the audience the circumstances that lead to French contact with the Huron. Whilst the characters are generally unrelatable, a little too stock to be psychologically real, Beresford makes great use of the hauntingly beautiful landscape and Georges Delerue's stunning score to sell the drama and emotion. The landscape itself becomes another character, the antithesis of the European architecture that "Black Robe"… Similar Films Select your preferred backdropSelect your preferred poster, upgrade to remove ads. Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads! Black Robe Review 14 Sep 1994 100 minutes 1643, Quebec. Father Laforgue (Bluteau) sets out upriver with a young French sidekick Daniel (Young) and several canoe-loads of marginally friendly Algonquins, intent on reinforcing the troubled Jesuit mission to the Huron tribe. Fanatically devoted to bringing salvation to the savages, Laforgue, known as Black Robe to the Indians, is a puzzling presence to the Native Canadians, who cannot be sure whether he is a medicine man or a demon. Meanwhile, as Daniel falls for an Indian girl (Holt), Laforgue's intensely personal spirituality is reshaped by the forces of the river, the forests and the hostile peoples. Things get especially rough for the party when they fall into the hands of the murderous Iroquois, who intend to torture them all to death to demonstrate their own strength. Black Robe will probably get sold as a cross betwen Dances With Wolves and Aguirre Wrath Of God, with more than a dash of Heart Of Darkness thrown in, but this adaptation of Brian Moore's novel is very much its own film, combining an epic sweep of the journey into the wilderness with a potent examination of the rigours of faith. Bluteau, following up his role in Jesus Of Montreal, is extraordinary as the priest, completely turning around audience sympathies as the unbending fanatic, without compromise, comes almost to understand the nature of evil and yet still cannot prevent himself from perpetuating it. Tackling a physically and spiritually gruelling role, Bluteau never overplays and never takes an easy path to a 17th Century character as alien to a modern audience as are the Algonquins and Hurons. While Kevin Costner celebrated Indians as New Age demigods, Bruce Beresford - all the flabbiness of such liberal ventures as Driving Miss Daisy and Mr Johnson banished - is confident enough to present a matter-of-fact depiction of a culture horrifically inclined towards hideous violence, without forcing any moral conclusions. With an insight into magic and the shaping of a people by their environment, the film has brutally lyrical dream moments that pull off the incredibly difficult trick of evoking religious feeling - both for the shamanist Indians and the Catholic Frenchmen - without corn.  Black Robe (1991)Directed by bruce beresford.
Description by WikipediaBlack Robe is a 1991 film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay was written by Irish Canadian author Brian Moore, who adapted it from his novel of the same name. The film's main character, Father LaForgue, is played by Lothaire Bluteau, with other cast members including Aden Young, Sandrine Holt, Tantoo Cardinal, August Schellenberg, Gordon Tootoosis and Raoul Trujillo. It was the first official co-production between a Canadian film team and an Australian one. It was shot entirely in the Canadian province of Quebec. Part of CollectionAlternate titles. 
 In the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warr... Read all In the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warring parties and harsh winter conditions. In the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warring parties and harsh winter conditions.
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Daniel : They have an afterworld of their own. Father Laforgue : They have no concept of one. Daniel : Annuka told me they believe that in the forest at night the dead can see. The souls of men hunt the souls of animals. Father Laforgue : Is that what she told you? It is childish, Daniel. Daniel : Is it harder to believe in than Paradise where we all sit on clouds and look at God?
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Black Robe , a 1991 movie, narrates the story of the first encounters between the Huron Indians of Quebec and the French Jesuit priests who tried to convert them to Christianity but ultimately turned them over to their adversaries. After all, those first courageous Jesuit priests who served in the middle of the 17th century were unaware that they acted as colonialism’s minions. Instead, they were motivated by a burning belief and a firm conviction that their undertaking was the right thing to do. It wasn’t until much afterward that it became clear that European colonization of North America had more to do with the native people’s devastation than their redemption. In the movie, Lothaire Bluteau plays young Father Laforgue and a priest sent to a mission more than a thousand miles from Quebec. If you watch “Vikings,” you will instantly recognize Lothaire Bluteau as the actor who portrayed the title character, Emperor Charles, even though his name may not be familiar to everyone. In this movie, the religious community has paid a troop of Algonquin Indians to accompany him on the long and dangerous pilgrimage. The film is gloomy and depressing, and it appears that it was shot mostly outside in gray weather. A recurring subject is the unfortunate fate of those stuck in an unresolvable struggle between cultures. The fate of Father Laforgue, who is unable to converse with his young French assistant who finds love with an Indian woman, the subject must have attracted the filmmaker. Therefore, the love relationship between the French assistant and the Indian woman is faced with the conflict of religious difference. The preservation of religion is of paramount significance in Indian culture. Even if they eventually lose or renounce their beliefs, the underlying values they were raised with might still leave an impression. Getting rid of some or all of their beliefs and practices sometimes involves feeling guilty, and this guilt can swiftly turn one partner against the other for leading them away from their own culture. Father Laforgue is horrified by the brutality and immorality of these people, even though his young assistant becomes accustomed to the environment and finds love with an Iroquois woman. In response, the Locals, who have given him the moniker Black Robe , ponder whether the man engaging in these peculiar actions is a conjurer. Father Laforgue experiences betrayal by the Indians, brutal treatment by the Iroquois, and significant amazement when he arrives at the quest near Lake Huron. The pilgrimage trails Father Laforgue’s mind, body, and spirituality. Father Laforgue has the willingness but not the strength to survive the Iroquois’ torturing when he and his colleagues are imprisoned. It is apparent that the Indians already existed with their own religious and spiritual systems and that none valued Christianity. This movie has all the hallmarks of a spiritual masterpiece due to the outstanding and compassionate cinematography of Bruce Beresford. The dramatization by Brian Moore, inspired by his 1985 novel, exposes the religious arrogance on both sides of the conflict between European and Indian cultures. When Father Laforgue, humiliated by his adventures in the desert, gets a revelation that tells a lot about the core of authentic Christianity, the dramatic buildup in Black Robe culminates in an emotional high point. For anyone interested in the early history of Westerners in North America, Black Robe will be of great interest, but it will be quite challenging to watch for regular audiences. It is a far more sobering and depressing masterpiece that narrates the history of the French in Quebec with a calm and unwavering belief in the goodness of people. There is no salvation at the conclusion of the movie. I will preface by noting that after it ended, I remained in a mood of gloomy depression and pondered whether that might be all that had happened.
IvyPanda. (2024, May 19). Black Robe (1991) Movie Review. https://ivypanda.com/essays/black-robe-1991-movie-review/ "Black Robe (1991) Movie Review." IvyPanda , 19 May 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/black-robe-1991-movie-review/. IvyPanda . (2024) 'Black Robe (1991) Movie Review'. 19 May. IvyPanda . 2024. "Black Robe (1991) Movie Review." May 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/black-robe-1991-movie-review/. 1. IvyPanda . "Black Robe (1991) Movie Review." May 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/black-robe-1991-movie-review/. Bibliography IvyPanda . "Black Robe (1991) Movie Review." May 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/black-robe-1991-movie-review/. |
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Tweet. Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. `Black Robe" tells the story of the first contacts between the Huron Indians of Quebec and the Jesuit missionaries from France who came to convert them to Catholicism, and ended up delivering them into the hands of their enemies. Those first brave Jesuit priests did not realize, in the mid-17th ...
The movie also doesn't play with simplistic stereotypes as everyone feels totally real. Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews Black Robe
Black Robe is a 1991 historical drama film directed by Bruce Beresford, adapted by Brian Moore from his 1985 novel of the same name.Set in the 17th century, it depicts the adventures of a Jesuit missionary tasked with founding a mission in New France.To do so, he must traverse 1500 miles of harsh wilderness with the help of a group of Algonquins, facing danger from both the unfamiliar ...
But, don't get me wrong here, I'm kind of glad the movie left this aspect out. "Black Robe" has the same vibe as 2007's "Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan," so if you appreciate that style of raw-realism you'll likely value "Black Robe." Needless to say, if you have ADHD or require constant explosions to maintain your attention, stay far away ...
The movie was filmed entirely on spectacular Canadian locations, under weather conditions nearly as harsh as those that faced the early Jesuit missionaries. "Black Robe" looks great. The unspoiled ...
Nov. 6, 1991 12 AM PT. TIMES FILM CRITIC. The year is 1634. French North America is a wilderness of startling vistas and staggering beauty. It is inhabited by the Algonquin, the Huron, the ...
TOP CRITIC. Black Robe is a film of enormous interest for those who care about the early history of Europeans in North America, but for ordinary moviegoers it will be very tough going. Full Review ...
Black Robe catapults the viewer into a strange and fascinating world and then builds suspensefully to an emotional climax when Father Laforgue, humbled by his experiences in the wilderness, has an epiphany which speaks volumes about the essence of true Christianity. A spiritual classic and a compelling tale of adventure in the wilderness of ...
Black Robe runs only 100 minutes, and yet its physical and spiritual challenges have an epic scope. Cinematographer Peter James (Mister Johnson) captures the fierce beauty of the wilderness ...
Black Robe First official co-production between Canada and Australia is a magnificently staged combination of top talents delivering a gripping and tragic story about a 17th-century Jesuit priest ...
Brian Moore here adapts his own savage, elegiac novel about the Jesuit mission to 'reap souls' among the Iroquois in 1630s Quebec. The film details the harrowin
Black Robe Reviews. 1991. 1 hr 35 mins. Drama. R. Watchlist. Where to Watch. In 1634, a Jesuit missionary arrives in the New World hoping to convert the Huron Native American tribe to Catholicism ...
Black Robe (adapted from his own novel by Brian Moore, also the source for Roeg's odd Cold Heaven [1990]) treats a familiar story: the one about the auto-destruction of a too-sane, too-civilised, rigid, Christian social order, when faced with a contrary, supposedly primitive social system that is sensual, canny, adaptive and profoundly mystical.
Black Robe, the priest, is a supporting actor, while the First Peoples and nature takes the main stage. There are several tribes represented in this film and online sources claim this film gets kudos for showing them realistically, with a few inaccuracies. This is a new favorite movie of mine. Made me cry.
The film is set in Quebec, New France, 1634. Captain Champlain (Jean Brousseau) approves a proposal by the Jesuits to travel up the St. Lawrence River and restablish contact with a Jesuit mission in the Huron nation. A young Jesuit is chosen to lead the expedition, Father Laforgue (Lothaire Bluteau). Daniel (Aden Young), a young Frenchman ...
The struggles of a 17th century Jesuit priest as he goes on his mission to convert the people of Huronia into Christianity, to save their souls, as decreed b...
Black Robe, first published in 1985, is a historical novel by Brian Moore set in New France in the 17th century. Its central theme is the collision of European and Native American cultures soon after first contact. First Nations peoples historically called French Jesuit priests "Black Robes" because of their religious habit.. The novel was adapted into the 1991 film Black Robe directed by ...
15. Original Title: Black Robe. 1643, Quebec. Father Laforgue (Bluteau) sets out upriver with a young French sidekick Daniel (Young) and several canoe-loads of marginally friendly Algonquins ...
Black Robe 1991 Directed by Bruce Beresford. Starring Lothaire Bluteau, Aden Young, Sandrine Holt, August Shellenberg. REVIEWED By Kathleen Maher, Fri., Nov. 22, 1991
Description by Wikipedia. Black Robe is a 1991 film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay was written by Irish Canadian author Brian Moore, who adapted it from his novel of the same name. The film's main character, Father LaForgue, is played by Lothaire Bluteau, with other cast members including Aden Young, Sandrine Holt, Tantoo Cardinal ...
Black Robe: Directed by Bruce Beresford. With Lothaire Bluteau, Aden Young, Sandrine Holt, August Schellenberg. In the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warring parties and harsh winter conditions.
Black Robe, a 1991 movie, narrates the story of the first encounters between the Huron Indians of Quebec and the French Jesuit priests who tried to convert them to Christianity but ultimately turned them over to their adversaries. After all, those first courageous Jesuit priests who served in the middle of the 17th century were unaware that ...