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| Black Robe | 
 enlarge | Director: Bruce Beresford
Actors: Lothaire Bluteau, Aden Young, Sandrine Holt, August Schellenberg, Tantoo Cardinal
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $3.79
You Save: $11.19 (75%)
New (18) Used (11) from $3.76
Avg. Customer Rating:  67 reviews
Sales Rank: 25269
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 101
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.6
MPN: D1002204D
ISBN: 0792850246
UPC: 027616864352
EAN: 9780792850243
ASIN: B00005BKZS
Theatrical Release Date: October 4, 1991
Release Date: July 10, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** Cover May Differ** Over 1.5 million orders shipped worldwide and more than 500 000 items in stock, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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| Customer Reviews:
 One of the best movies depicting Forest Native Peoples July 17, 2005
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This movie rates five stars with me. The actors are all great, but most of all as a decendant of both Miami (Indiana) & Shawnee (Ohio) peoples, I am all too aware of native peoples being mostly associated with THE WEST! I love the forest scenery and the costuming, that depicts the clothing and tatooing popular with many of the Eastern peoples. People seem to forget that Native Peoples met our ancestors at the shore and they did NOT wear warbonnets or ride ponies
I watch this film whenever I need to clear my head. June 23, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Black Robe pulls you in. You don't feel like you're watching a movie. It flows like real life. I can't say enough about this movie. I'd say it's my favourite film ever. I read one review from a left-wing persepctive that claimed that BR was "neo-colonial propaganda". This person is an idiot. BR portrays the Natives in the same way it does the French: mostly as ignorant, superstitious brutes. La Forgue's fanatical belief in Catholic dogma at the most irrational moments is identical to the Indians' faith in Mestegoit, the Montaignes' shaman. The Europeans who killed the Indians weren't any more savage than the Natives they exterminated; they were just better armed. The Natives were killing each other long before Europeans showed up. BR captures that.
Other examples are the quick contrasting scenes that cut between Champlain and the Algonquin chief Chumina putting on their ceremonial clothes before meeting to negotiate the escort of father La Forgue to the Huron. Another is the scene where La Forgue tells Daniel that the natives are "childish" because they believe in Algonquin religion and Daniel replies that their beliefs are no less "childish" than the Christian belief that in heaven we sit on clouds and look at God.
This film isn't about colonialism. It's about the human condition. The message is: modern man is as savage on a global scale as aboroginal man was on a tribal scale. How are the Iroquois who tortured and raped father LaForgue and the chief's daughter different from the Iraqis who behead contractors, or the Americans who deport prisoners to countries for torture? That is the real message of BR. Take this film seriously.
Beautiful Tragedy March 7, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Bruce Bereford's Black Robe was easily one of the best "bleak realistic" films of the 1980's. It's powerful on many levels.
There are amazing performances all around here, but the then (and still fairly) relatively unknown Lothaire Blutheau hits absolutely all the right notes in his performance as the young priest, Father Laforgue. Strong with all of the unique confidence that possessed only by youth, Laforgue slowly undergoes one of those classic dark journeys of the soul wherein everything, including one's belief system - previously seen as unwavering - is called into question when exposed to a different world entirely. One can actually feel what he feels here.
Aden Young gives an equally remarkable, if smaller performance as Laforgue's young, idealistic guide who quickly is smitten by the ways of Algonquin. An odd but strong friendship - an almost mutual admiration - between the two young men develops but which falls sour and which nearly costs Laforuge his life.
Visually, the movie offers astonishing images of the Canadian landscape, simply beautiful even when stark and covered with ice and snow.
Beresford makes certain everything works together perfectly here, from the gorgeous cinematography and acting, to the gorgeous score of Georges Delerue who deftly combines Native American rhythms and sounds with his ancient Catholic-tinged harmonies creating a soundscape as aurally powerful as the film is visually.
The film will resonate strongly for those who enjoy the controversial aspects between various faiths - (and a little of commerce) and remind more than a few of The Mission, whose protagonists shared similar hopes with similar results.
Not an easy film to watch as its beauty is often in its brutal images, but beautiful and unforgettable it is.
Amazon.com's reviewer got it right February 21, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
For years I've been saying what amazon.com's reviewer says so eloquently: that Black Robe is a more honest assessment of the historic relationship between Europeans and Native Americans than Dances with Wolves. It faithfully depicts the honest confusion and complexity that occurs when two cultures collide. My problem with Dances with Wolves was that it was too 'neat'. These are the good guys and these are the bad ones. Black Robe avoids that and handles the issue with more integrity.
A film to study and treasure January 2, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Twenty years from now, film students will continue to appreciate the skill by which Bruce Beresford and his team realized Brian More's novel on the physical and spitual manisfestations of man and environment. I bought the VHS as soon as it was available and have analyzed portions of the film shot by shot, marveling at the almost symphonic mastery of theme and structure. Now I enjoy the DVD regularly and am constantly loaning it to friends.
I would commend three scenes as indicators of the more subtle qualities of this film: (1) The scene where priest Black Robe flagellates himself when he finds himself becoming excited watching others having sex. Note that he does this under a bent spruce about to fall into the river, a symbol of abnormality (compared to other "trees"). (2) The handling of the sun--the Native Americans' source of spirituality and life--as Chief Chomina at last approaches the island of his visions. The whole sequence on and off the island (remeniscent of a famous Boecklin painting) is exquisitely structured. (3) The deliberately ambiguous ending, the cross in front of the sun. Is it bringing light to the world, or blotting it out?
One final note. Parts of the film were photographed in an estuarial portion of the Saguenay near the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 100s of miles from the supposed route to Lake Ontario. The mountains are too high, but appropriately stunning, and the tidal fluctuations are apparent on shore from time to time.
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