Black Robe poster & wallpaper

Aden Young, August Schellenberg, Billy Two Rivers

Forget about Kevin Costner's sun-kissed, water-colored, Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves. Black Robe, which was directed by Bruce Beresford, a director who gave the world the finest film...( read more  read more... ) of the early '80s Australian new wave, Breaker Morant, and who continually collides cultures and ethnicity in his films (Mister Johnson, Driving Miss Daisy), matches and surpasses the Costner epic as an expertly crafted, brutal saga of redemption and salvation. In 1634 a young French Jesuit missionary is assigned to trek 1,500 miles through the New France wilderness to a mission settled in Huron Indian country. Black Robe chronicles the journey of Father Laforgue (Lothaire Blutheau) as he leaves his Jesuit brothers and, with the aid of a young translator and guide, Daniel (Aden Young), and eight canoes of Algonquin Indians, moves into the uncompromising Canadian northern territory on a die-hard mission to convert the natives. Mixing elements of Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans and Roland Joffé's The Mission, Beresford offers a restless tale of Laforgue's conflicted faith juxtaposed against the sublime spiritual harmony with the land that the Huron and Algonquin already hold. Black Robe dances to its own drummer and is tuned into the precarious balance between nature's mystery and spirit and the strident, unyielding religious ethic. The cinematography by Peter James is relentlessly cruel and bleak, but it absolutely conveys the obstacles that face the idealistic and blind young priest, who by the end, has faced his own awakening. The film also features one of the late, great composer Georges Delerue's most noble scores. --Paula Nechak

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59% liked it

6,139 ratings

Critics

91% liked it

11 critics

R, 101 min.

Directed by: Bruce Beresford

Release Date: September 5, 1991

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DVD Release Date: July 7, 1998

Stats: 174 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (174)

  • bort16
    September 12, 2008
    bort16
    Released with poor timing in the aftermath of a similar themed film - Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves - Black Robe largely got lost in the shuffle. That's a shame, because the film is actually quite remarkable. Not to say that it hasn't had influence on other films however. Bl...( read more)ack Robe certainly must have had quite an influence on Terrence Malick and his The New World. The title credits are clearly inspired by those in Black Robe, and other aspects are familiar as well.
    Set in 17th century Quebec, the film follows a young Jesuit priest, Father Lafourgue (Bluteau), referred to as Black Robe by the natives. He travels with a band Algonquins lead by Chomina (Schellenberg). With Father Lafourgue is Daniel, a young Frenchman, who is in love with Chomina's daughter. The young priest soon begins to inspire fears that he is some sort of demon, and many in the band wish to leave him behind, or possibly even kill him and his companion.
    Their travels meet turmoil among other hostile native tribes, leading not only a struggle between peoples, but a struggle between faiths.
    Beresford creates a very bleak atmosphere, using the cold Quebec landscape as an intimidating, but still beautiful backdrop. The weather feels cold, the air crisp. It's really quite a beautiful film to look at.
    Bruce Moore, who wrote the screenplay and the novel it was based on, went to great lengths in research to accurately portray this period in time. Many have praised the film for its accuracies, while a number of others have however complained that it shows natives as savages. I have to disagree. Neither side is shown as total bad guys, nor total good guys. The film gives everyone a fair shake. Both sides have/had their reasons, and both sides committed terrible acts. Certainly, not all Natives were all about peace and love, which is not a slight to them in the least. Their history is a noble one, and they had every right to fear and be hostile in the face of Europeans. That said, I'm probably overcompensating for the film, because it really doesn't show Natives as savages at all, especially not the Algonquins. Moore claimed, in fact, that he actually toned down the violence of the Natives compared to what he found in his research. That said, what he found in his research was most likely overstated to begin with.
    Black Robe certainly is a bleak picture. The naturalistic photography and tone adds to the depressed atmosphere. This is not a story of joys, but of sorrows. When the film ends, we are told what history has already told us - the Natives were slaughtered and the Jesuit's mission by and large was a futile failure.
    Though the film sticks to its own dark history, this is more than just a very well done history lesson. Black Robe is a parable of the horrifying results that come from misunderstanding, miscommunication, and ignorance. While the Jesuit mission was well intentioned, it was more a product of Eurocentric ignorance than anything else. The Native people had their own religious beliefs, and the film shows that. The lessons in Black Robe are transferable to any number of modern day conflicts. We have not learned our lesson, and by removing the gloss and glamour off the period epics of old, Black Robe serves as a reminder. Such a shame its so overlooked.
  • wellmeetagain
    October 9, 2007
    wellmeetagain
    If you love movies that show collisions between cultures you will enjoy this one.
  • Dracula787
    March 2, 2009
    Dracula787
    This film about a French missionary?s journeys among the Algonquin?s during the colonial era has often been called a Canadian Dances with Wolves, but this story is a lot bleaker and probably more realistic than that Kevin Costner vehicle. The main character is a frustratingly st...( read more)ubborn religious fanatic who never realizes the damage he?s doing by trying to convert the Native Americans to his ways. It?s very well made and it conveys the period quite well. However, the acting is a bit weak and the story itself doesn?t really go much of anywhere. It gets an ?A? in the historical reenactment department, and probably a ?C? in the narrative storytelling department.
  • donnarenee2006
    September 16, 2008
    donnarenee2006
    A good movie, with an interesting story to it. The action with the Native wars was pretty cool and graphic on some scenes. A good one.
  • MECreviews
    March 18, 2008
    MECreviews
    I didn't like this film.
  • plrice44
    December 12, 2007
    plrice44
    Great movie with food for thought about what it has taken to get us where we are today. Filmed in Canada and France.
  • 404NotFound
    October 16, 2007
    404NotFound
    Can't believe I haven't seen this.

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Black Robe Trivia

  • What 1990 movie sees Jesuit priests living among the Huron?  Answer »
  • You run out of the house screaming for help just before you see someone running towards you wearing a white mask with black eyes and a black mouth. He is holding a knife and wearing a black robe. Who is running towards you?   Answer »
  • You run out of the house screaming for help just before you see someone running towards you wearing a white mask with black eyes and a black mouth. He is holding a knife and wearing a black robe. Who is running towards you?   Answer »
  • You run out of the house screaming for help just before you see someone running towards you wearing a white mask with black eyes and a black mouth. He is holding a knife and wearing a black robe. Who is running towards you?   Answer »
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