At a recent conference for religious news writers, I was very pleased to meet Steve and Nate Saint, the son and grandson of one of the five missionaries killed in 1956 by the Waodani, an indigenous tribe living in the Jungle Basin of Ecuador considered to be the most violent society ever documented. This Christian missionary effort, recorded in the book, Through the Gates of Splendor is now a documentary and available on DVD.

The DVD combines original footage with current interviews of the widows and children of the five strong and adventurous young men who met their demise at the hand of Waodani spears after having made what seemed like an affable contact, flying into the jungle and landing onto one of the river’s sandbars. The documentary shows that the missionaries exhibited unquestionable bravery while considering the danger of making contact with the Waodani people. One of these adventurous young men said before they left on their mission, “They’re not ready for heaven – and we are.” The men’s bodies were found floating in the river

The film was the featured entertainment for the writers at the conference I mention, and the lesson from the offspring of the fallen missionary is a message of forgiveness, a message one cannot hear loudly enough in the current time of war and heightened distrust of those unlike oneself.

The Waodani, who even in the 1950’s were spearing employees of encroaching logging conglomerates, were finding themselves thrust into increased contact and increased conflict with the outside world. It was the task of modern Christian Missionaries to attempt contact with a culture that had been isolated and undisturbed for thousands of years.

The conflicting collision of these two worldviews cannot be underestimated. The massacre became worldwide news via radio and television, and held the U.S. spellbound. American audiences were mightily intrigued by the deaths of missionaries at the hands of a tribe that seemed like an evil throwback to Neanderthal times.

The Waodani culture was so violent that it was customary that they kill not only their enemies and outsiders, but also their fellow tribes-people. In one brutal example in the film, a mother must bury two children alive with the corpse of her fallen mate; yet she saves the youngest and flees the tribe, risking the penalty of death. An average six of every 10 deaths of Waodani adults were homicides. From the film it is clear these homicides occurred with a haunting regularity.

Anthropologically, the film works on a level unintended by the filmmakers as a study of man in nature who sees murder in a childlike way; as something that can be done on an emotional whim. It is like they were a group of children who were never told it was wrong or bad; just a convenience to get a desired result. The general acceptance of murder among this particular tribe as part of life is certainly a prime study, and yet anthropologists interviewed in the film somehow avoid exploring the overarching questions their behavior triggers.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor has some limitations, but is well worth the watch. Beautifully filmed and edited, with a great score, the film has resonance. The production value is top notch. There are various interviews, real footage and photos from the time these events happened, some reenactments, and recent footage with Steve Saint and his family living with the tribe.

The most amazing part of the story is not the men’s attempt to make contact with the tribe, but the follow-through events which are actually understated in the film: the wife of one of the fallen men and the sister of another went into the jungle to live with the Waodani after the men’s deaths. Several of the women who lost their husbands also visited the Waodani tribe – even meeting some of the very men who killed their spouses. The film is a testament to the power of the women who, along with their fair-haired children who learned the Waodani language and played games and canoed with Waodani children, were able to forgive and create community in this most inhospitable of environments. In only two years, the Bible-toting women who lived, breathed and ate Waodani culture while preaching the essence of Jesus’ teachings - peace and forgiveness – were able to entirely transform the tribe; the homicide rate dropping by 90%.

Missionary attempts in and of themselves as a mode of operation inflicted upon those who never asked for it is not questioned here. It brings to mind the current administrations’ desire to “colonize” a foreign country by imposing a “democracy’ upon that culture made up of a variety of sects who didn’t ask for one. It is implicit in the missionary stance that those who “got it” have to impose it on others; an ethnocentric view which has led to the colonization of Africans, Native Americans, Indians of India, and so many other cultures that were happy to exist without intervention - and history has revealed many of the dire happenings that resulted.

Overall, the film is thankfully subdued in its Christian missionary zeal. The biggest criticisms of the film, in fact have been from Christians who have decried the lack of emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus. The reason I recommend this film to those who love the message of the BLEEP, is that the courage of the Christian missionaries and their wives, their ability to make contact human to human and to bring out of tragedy a message of enduring hope, is to be commended.

Running Time: 1 hr. 36 min.

MPAA Rating:   PG-13 for some violent content and thematic elements.

Distributor:   Every Tribe

Director: Jim Hanon

Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The spirit of evolution by Ken Wilber Review by Cate Montana

Yes, at 789 pages Wilber’s definitive text seeking to describe a philosophy of what he calls “universal integralism” is rather daunting. But hey, only 551 pages of that is text. The rest are notes and references. Hmmmm, even more daunting perhaps.

Flippancy aside, if you have ever struggled to grasp where the world is going, what it is making of itself, what ingredients are in the recipe for evolution and what are the pitfalls and dead-ends to avoid in order that humanity rise to some universal, non-egoic consciousness, then this is the book for you.

Weaving together science, religion, Eastern and Western philosophy, morals, aesthetics, and all of the world’s greatest spiritual and wisdom traditions, Wilber makes a brilliant argument for a holistic world, cradled in a holistic universe. Yes, society may at various times compartmentalize itself with its hierarchical thinking; yes, we may pick the world apart and reduce it to atomistic fragments; yes, we may analyze and marginalize, criticize and systematize as if we knew what we were doing;