The Tailenders

On the surface, Adele Horne's PBS P.O.V.-aired documentary The Tailenders is about Global Recordings Network, an evangelical organization founded in 1939 with the stated goal of producing and distributing recordings of Bible stories in all of the world's languages and dialects. And the film does a fine job of outlining the group's history and purpose, demonstrating the innovative devices that members have fashioned over the years (including records played manually using their cardboard sleeves for needles, and self-contained cassette players), while also accompanying missionaries from local chapters traveling to remote locations in Mexico and India, as well as the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. (The effort, we're told, has now encompassed some 5,500 of the 8,000-plus languages in existence; the term “tailenders” refers to the last peoples awaiting evangelization.) But The Tailenders also spreads a broader net, speculating on the power of the spoken word itself, the difficulty of insuring that translations in little-used or dying dialects are accurate, and the impact of “civilization” in all its forms on remote societies. In addition, interviews with converts and those “targeted” for the group's ministry also point out the differences in fundamental values between the missionaries and their intended audiences, while also illustrating the social and economic changes (including the arrival of industry) that follow in the wake of conversion. A fascinating film that uses a good story as a springboard to raise larger issues, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)