Portrayal of colonial encounters in The New World and Black Robe

¶ … New World" & "Black Robe"

Both Terrence Malick's "The New World" and Bruce Beresford's "Black Robe" deal with themes of Native American encounters with European settlers and how it impacted both parties. There are subtle differences in each movie, but the main themes of cultures clashing and the inevitable conflict that will occur as a result permeate both films. Both films are notable for their attention to detail and their respective quests for historical accuracy, though "The New World" deals with the far more mythologized and recognized story of Pocahontas. These two films together represent a shift in the telling of Native American tales in the cinema, no longer satisfied to project the image of "Noble Savage" that had previously dominated these types of movies.

In Malick's "The New World," Pocahontas is portrayed as a woman torn between two cultures: the one she has known for the whole of her life and the one represented by her love for Captain John Smith. Smith is also torn between his duty to the new Jamestown settlement and his enduring love for Pocahontas. However when the settlement is threatened by starvation, it is Pocahontas who rescues them by providing sustenance through the harsh winter. This betrayal further distances her from her tribe and she is banished, leading her to go to the settlement where she can be with Smith. But when he must return to England, he lets her think he has died, so she finds solace in John Rolfe whom she eventually marries. On a subsequent trip to England, Pocahontas reunites with Smith and discovers that although they shared much, they have grown apart and she was right to choose Rolfe. She dies tragically on the voyage home. The Native Americans in "The New World" are portrayed as a just but violent people who are only interested in maintaining their lifestyle. The settlers in Jamestown are not interested in changing their way of life, only in co-existing peacefully with the natives. But the differences in culture prove too much, even when Pocahontas has been taken in by the settlement and accepted by the English.

"Black Robe" deals with some different themes. The settlers in the film are dispatched to Canada with one mission: convert the natives to Christianity. This, of course, instantly induces violent reactions towards the missionaries who are attempting to subvert centuries of Native American religious tradition. In "Black Robe" the natives are depicted as extremely violent people who resist any attempts to change their traditional way of life. When a young Jesuit priest is sent along with a group of Algonquin Indians to try to reconnect with the Catholic mission in a Huron village, his party encounters other tribes which take some hostage and try to kill the entire party. As members of the party are killed, the priest keeps trying to convert each member and every time he is unsuccessful. However, it is only with the assistance of a young Algonquin woman that the priest is able to survive and continue on his mission. Finally arriving at the mission he discovers all the French inhabitants have been killed by the Huron tribe who blamed them for a smallpox epidemic which is ravaging their tribe. The priest decides to confront the tribe and offer to convert them to Christianity in an effort to save them before they are all killed by smallpox. The tribal leader accepts when the priest tells them that he has loved all the natives he has encountered, even those who have attempted to harm him.