Beyond the Gates of Splendor

While the primary message of Beyond the Gates of Splendor is one of Christian love, this extraordinary documentary is also an astonishing tale of cultural exchange, murder, and the ultimate act of forgiveness. After American missionaries discovered the Waodani Indians of the Amazon basin of Ecuador in the mid-1950s, their Christian outreach went smoothly until 1956, when misunderstandings and lies led to the spear-killing of five of the missionary men. The widows and their children—including narrator Steve Saint—responded to the tragedy by living peacefully among the Waodani in the ensuing decades. Through home-movie footage, photographs, and eyewitness accounts by Americans and Waodani alike, this incredible-but-true story of love and understanding unfolds with considerable power. Is the missionary impulse a pure and beneficial one? Are the Waodani best left alone, untouched by the wide world beyond their village? A tragic yet inspiring story, leavened with some comic touches and an overwhelming sense of compassion, writer/director Jim Hanon's film is hampered only by an overbearing score (by Ronald Owen) that's lushly beautiful at best, but too often maudlin, manipulative, and shamelessly heavy-handed. Although Christian viewers will be most deeply affected by the film's thematic parallels to the lessons of Christ, non-Christian viewers are likely to be similarly moved and amazed (interestingly, Hanon later dramatized the factual events of Beyond the Gates of Splendor for his feature film End of the Spear, scheduled for release later this year). Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Shannon)