CI#89 - St. Boniface in Winnipeg
In this episode of the Catholic Insider we go outside to explore the cold, snow-covered banks of the Red River. Kris and George show me the cathedral of St. Boniface and we hear about the history of the arrival of the ‘blackrobes’ in Canada.
Today’s show
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BLACK ROBE(1991)
The Black Robe movie was released in 1991. It is worth watching(I saw it last year) for the on location scenes but it is frequently slow, plodding and with a stereotyped negative protrayal of the native Huron tribe . It was not the kind of movie that still had me thinking about it the next day like good movies do. There are two versions of it out on DVD, one with just the widescreen movie and the trailer and one with both fullscreen, widescreen, trailer and other features. Below is the link for the one with more features at the cheapest price($11.17 with shipping) I found(Fr. Roderick you may want to check out their affiliate program:
*BLACK ROVE movie promotional summary at deepdiscountdvd.com:
“Director Bruce Beresford’s abiding fascination with the clash of cultures is apparent in this adaptation of Brian Moore’s novel of a Jesuit missionary who leaves France in 1634 to bring the word of Jesus to the Huron tribe of rugged northern Quebec. The film, which stars Lothaire Bluteau as LaForgue, casts aside the revisionist notion of the Native American as an enlightened being, superior to Caucasian interlopers, depicting the Huron world as one of ugliness and harshness. The missionary’s arrogance blinds him to the Indians’ preference for their own religious rituals over the faith he is attempting to thrust upon them. Yet, in his new proximity to nature and exposure to primitive mores that shock him, the priest begins to feel the bonds of his asceticism and question his faith. Finally, after being captured and tortured by a party of Iroquois, he begins to evince the compassion with which the conversion of the Hurons becomes possible. The tragic ramifications of this process are only revealed many years later. Bluteau is excellent in this bleak film, which includes some of the most meticulously researched representations of Native American life ever put on film.
A young Jesuit priest is sent on a dangerous expedition to convert the Huron Indians in the rugged 17th-century Canadian wilderness. His faith and courage tested, he is captured and tortured by the Iroquois and learns to understand the true nature of the people he came to convert.
Theatrical release: November 1991.
BLACK ROBE was an opening night selection at the 1991 Toronto Festival of Festivals.
Shot in Lac St. Jean, Saguenay Region, and St. Felix d’Otis, Quebec, Canada; and Rouen, France.
The Native North American dialogue is translated into English subtitles.
Estimated budget: $15 million (Australian dollars)” -
http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=7594003
*Here is a couple more links about the Black Robe movie:
Noted film critic Roger Ebert’s Black Robe review:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19911101/REVIEWS/111010304/1023
*Internet Movie Data Base listing of Black Robe:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0101465/
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I’ll ditto Michael’s comments on the movie,”Black Robe”. I saw it years ago and found it to be quite enthralling. But beware, it is violent.
Your footsteps reveal that the air temperature in Winnipeg was seasonably normal - there were no squeaks. When I was a student in upstate New York I once walked to the dining hall at 6:00 am with the temperature at -24 F (-31 C). The snow squeaks when it’s that cold.
Keep the sound scenes coming, and thank you for “going deep”.
Steve.
Hi, Fr., great podcasts! Makes me want to go to Winnipeg! Okay, I agree with people above that you may want to watch “Black Robe” as it does show a lot of the historical side of things you touched upon in the podcasts, but it does drag a bit and for lack of a better word, it is a bit weird…
@Steve-I can’t believe you even walked out the door when it was -24F ! I went out one time when it was -4F and I was only walking to a neighbor’s house two houses away and I thought my face had frozen off!!
Best regards to all,
Bonita