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Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

Black Robe

Directed by Bruce Beresford. Starring Lothaire Bluteau, August Schellenberg. 1991, Color, English, 101 minutes. Available at Blockbuster Video

Matthew: The Jesuit Missionary Father Laforgue prays, "Lord, have mercy on these savages who will never see your face." If they're never going to see his face, what kind of mercy can He possibly have on them?

Ernie: It seems like that prayer is some kind of admission that God's infinite mercy can save the noble savage. I think that's the central issue of the film -- the question of God's mercy for the unbaptized.

Matthew: The story of the movie is the story of Laforgue's coming to grips with that. In the beginning, he's comfortable using their superstition and simplicity to his own advantage, but he's not willing for that superstition to be integrated into their faith life.

Ernie: The death of the honorable Indian Chomina, who sacrificed his whole family and his own life to keep a promise to the priest, is the first challenge to Laforgue's view of salvific grace.

Matthew: Father Jerome presents another challenge when he advocates baptizing the Indians who don't fully understand the sacrament and just hope it will cure their illness. But in the end, in part because of the noble savage question he runs into with Chomina, Laforgue baptizes them.