It’s not difficult to scorn John Chau. A 26-year-old evangelical Christian with a taste for outdoor adventure, he undertook a one-man mission in 2018 to North Sentinel Island, an extremely remote and unreached part of India, to bring the gospel of Jesus to the Sentinelese. Even if you don’t know the story, it’s clear from the start of the new National Geographic documentary The Mission that things did not go well. The film is a reminder that, from the non-missionary perspective, and even from a less reckless missionary perspective,...
- 10/12/2023
- by Chris Vognar
- Rollingstone.com
Judging from talk in restaurants and on the Telluride gondola, one of the films provoking the strongest reaction at the festival this year is The Mission. The National Geographic documentary, directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, tells the story of missionary John Chau whose shocking demise in 2018 made headlines around the world (and elicited insensitive memes).
The world premiere and subsequent screenings here have triggered debate over the ethics of Christian missionary work, particularly when it involves attempts to convert Indigenous people who have had little or no previous contact with outsiders, as was the case in Chau’s endeavor. He took it upon himself to try to bring the Gospel to the North Sentinelese, a group living on a remote island in the Andaman Sea. After initially being repelled by a warning shot from an arrow, Chau returned the next day and was felled on the beach. His body was never recovered.
The world premiere and subsequent screenings here have triggered debate over the ethics of Christian missionary work, particularly when it involves attempts to convert Indigenous people who have had little or no previous contact with outsiders, as was the case in Chau’s endeavor. He took it upon himself to try to bring the Gospel to the North Sentinelese, a group living on a remote island in the Andaman Sea. After initially being repelled by a warning shot from an arrow, Chau returned the next day and was felled on the beach. His body was never recovered.
- 9/4/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
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