As "The Mission" (2023 release; 103 min) opens, we are introduced to John Chau, an evangelican Christian who is hellbent on doing missionary, the further away and more isolated, the better. Through something called "Unreached People", he sets his sights on the 200 or so resident on the North Sentinel Island, one of the most isolated spots on earth (in the Bay of Bengal)...
Couple of comments: this is the second documentary from co-directors (and real life husband and wife) Jesse Moss and Amanda McBain ("Boys State"). Here they reassess the life and times of John Chau, the evangelican Christian whose mission went horribly wrong. Of course it raises the issue of the assumed superiority by (almost always white) people who are determined to show the rest of the world how it's done and how to live a proper and meaningful life. The thought that maybe, just maybe, this is just insanely arrogant, if not worse, doesn't even enter their universe. All of these themes were also examined in another documentary from earlier this year called "Savior Complex", and frankly better than in "The Mission". (As a complete aside, please do not confuse this documentary with the 1986 movie of the same name starring Robert de Niro. They are completely unrelated projects.)
"The Mission" premiered at the Telluride film festival some months back and it is now streaming on Hulu. If you are curious about the moral pros and cons of religious missionary work by white people across the globe, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this is the second documentary from co-directors (and real life husband and wife) Jesse Moss and Amanda McBain ("Boys State"). Here they reassess the life and times of John Chau, the evangelican Christian whose mission went horribly wrong. Of course it raises the issue of the assumed superiority by (almost always white) people who are determined to show the rest of the world how it's done and how to live a proper and meaningful life. The thought that maybe, just maybe, this is just insanely arrogant, if not worse, doesn't even enter their universe. All of these themes were also examined in another documentary from earlier this year called "Savior Complex", and frankly better than in "The Mission". (As a complete aside, please do not confuse this documentary with the 1986 movie of the same name starring Robert de Niro. They are completely unrelated projects.)
"The Mission" premiered at the Telluride film festival some months back and it is now streaming on Hulu. If you are curious about the moral pros and cons of religious missionary work by white people across the globe, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.