User reviews

Greetings again from the darkness. What is left that no one has done? It's a question that the most adventurous among us ask themselves. John Chau was certainly an adventurer. He ran marathons, loved hiking through forests, and enjoyed rock and mountain climbing. His dream was to venture onto the North Sentinel Island and introduce Jesus to the island's sole inhabitants. The Sentinelese are an isolated human community of hunter-gatherers who have made it abundantly clear over the years that they do not welcome outside visitors.

In 2018, when the news report hit that 26-year-old John Chau had been killed while trying to make contact with The Sentinelese, my initial and immediate reaction was to call him an arrogant jerk who probably got what he deserved. Co-directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, through National Geographic Documentary Films, have brought us more of John Chau's story so that we (me) can better understand his motivation and how it fits into the historical aspect of missionary work.

McBaine and Moss explore the various stories here, which include: a community of folks living life on their own terms, the overreach of religion, the role of missionaries, a young man wanting to make a difference, and a father-son relationship. Much of John's story is taken directly from the journal he kept right up until the day he died. The directors also effectively use the letter from John's father, which is read aloud and displayed through animation. Additionally, there are interviews with John's friend, an historian, and a long-time missionary. We learn that as a kid, John was attracted to stories such as "Robinson Crusoe" and "Tintin", as well as drawing inspiration from movies like END OF THE SPEAR. His attraction to adventure began at an early age, and it was the draw of religion that really struck a chord.

As a Chinese-American and evangelical Christian, it is said that he might have believed the indigenous people were waiting for him to bring them The Truth. Whether he believed this or instead simply felt it was his responsibility, speaks to a level of conceit rarely seen outside of religion or politics. What is abundantly clear is that as a disciple of 'The Great Commission', John's radical approach paid little mind or respect to the uncorrupted culture of this isolated tribe. This is why, as his long-time friend describes, he had to pay pirates to take him uninvited to the island to talk about Jesus. It's a conceit that will not compute for me, regardless of his religious beliefs.

North Sentinel Island is part of the Andaman Islands (where the legend of King Kong took place) and it is protected by the government of India. John Chau's "Plan" even included a section detailing the illegality of his mission. The filmmakers structure the film with the first hour being mostly background and setup, while the final 45 minutes dig into John's trip to the island - a trip best described in the movie as 'idealism masquerading as God's will.' John's father carried a burden of parental guilt, which is understandable; however, most of this boils down to John's own ignorance and conceit. As thorough as the research is, and as interesting as the history is, none of it has changed my mind about John Chau.

Opens October 27, 2023 in theaters.

As "The Mission" (2023 release; 103 min) opens, we are introduced to John Chau, an evangelican Christian who is hellbent on doing missionary, the further away and more isolated, the better. Through something called "Unreached People", he sets his sights on the 200 or so resident on the North Sentinel Island, one of the most isolated spots on earth (in the Bay of Bengal)...

Couple of comments: this is the second documentary from co-directors (and real life husband and wife) Jesse Moss and Amanda McBain ("Boys State"). Here they reassess the life and times of John Chau, the evangelican Christian whose mission went horribly wrong. Of course it raises the issue of the assumed superiority by (almost always white) people who are determined to show the rest of the world how it's done and how to live a proper and meaningful life. The thought that maybe, just maybe, this is just insanely arrogant, if not worse, doesn't even enter their universe. All of these themes were also examined in another documentary from earlier this year called "Savior Complex", and frankly better than in "The Mission". (As a complete aside, please do not confuse this documentary with the 1986 movie of the same name starring Robert de Niro. They are completely unrelated projects.)

"The Mission" premiered at the Telluride film festival some months back and it is now streaming on Hulu. If you are curious about the moral pros and cons of religious missionary work by white people across the globe, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

It's really a story that we all know about.

But the real question is how it's told.

The storytelling, for me, was pretty average. I like the live-action bit, but it did not blow my mind for sure. I wish the interviews had more depth. I like that they tried to humanise Chau - a brilliant but dumb kid who wants to "save" the world from Hell and pave the way for Jesus' return. However, his dad's mournful letter cannot be the sole reason for me to empathise with Chau. I wish the filmmakers tried digging deeper into his life.

Also, how can you give TN Pandit such little screen time? And how can you miss the incredible Madhumala Chattopadhyay in this documentary that revolves around North Sentinel? Wish it was extensively researched and showed the Indian perspective.

Is religious missionary work an act of altruism or arrogance? Does it represent a quest for the fulfillment of one's spiritual potential or a euphemistic cover for an inflated sociopathic ego? And, in either case, is it even possible to distinguish the two? Those are legitimate questions in the case of 26-year-old fundamentalist Christian missionary John Chau, who disappeared and was presumed dead in 2018 while attempting to spread the word of Jesus to the reclusive indigenous residents of North Sentinel Island, an Indian protectorate in the Bay of Bengal. The locale, one of the world's most difficult destinations to reach and one that's strictly off limits to outsiders, is home to an obscure, little-known tribe with a reputation for being mistrusting of and unwelcoming to strangers. Yet Chau was convinced that it was his destiny to convert them to Christianity no matter what, even at the cost of his life, a concern that worried his family, friends and seasoned missionaries who had attempted comparable initiatives with native people in other parts of the world. It was an effort that raised questions about Chau's motivations: Was he a committed religious zealot who truly wanted to spread the word of Christ, or was he suffering from a maniacal Messiah Complex hell-bent on testing the limits of his courage, hubris and personal capabilities? Directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss seek to answer these and other thorny questions about this enigmatic individual whose real intents may never really be known, leaving lingering doubts and pain about his mission in the minds of those who knew him. Thanks to unprecedented access to Chau's kindreds, as well as his recovered diaries, the filmmakers tell a captivating tale about his experience, along with thought-provoking ethical examinations about the nature and propriety of missionary work in connection with indigenous societies. Should it continue? Is it appropriate for Westerners and devout Christians to interfere in the spiritual lives of those who adhere to alternate viewpoints? Indeed, are these people genuinely in need of being "fixed," regardless of the alleged nobility behind the intentions of those seeking to carry out these transformations? "The Mission" offers viewers a delicately balanced view of these notions, prompting even the most dedicated disciples of this work to step back and take a new look at what they and their peers are carrying out. It also presents an eye-opening discussion of this subject, encouraging us to ask ourselves, how much is too much when it comes to missionary work, regardless of the religion involved? And when is it appropriate to leave things as they are for those who already appear to be happy and contented in their lives and beliefs? There's a lot on the line in this Critics Choice Documentary Award nominee, and, in light of the nature of its story, that's something we must never lose sight of.

Why on earth do people feel the need to force their views and opinions on others?

Especially ones that live in the middle of nowhere and have made it clear they do not want to be contacted?

I actually think this makes religious nutters look even worse than I thought possible.

I've got a great idea why don't I go and force my opinions and views on other people that aren't interested!? There in lies the problem with the world and this piece of garbage.

The movie romanticised him way too much in the beginning and I actually think he got what he deserved...I know that may sound harsh, but I think the moral of the story is leave people to live in peace and mind you own business.

The podcast Behind the B has an incredible series on this event and the history of colonialist and neighboring people involving themselves with the very unwilling North Sentinelese people that was very informative and interesting and made it very clear that these people want to be left alone and reinforcing that what Chau did was reckless, stupid, arrogant and selfish. I highly recommend the podcast if you want to actually learn about what happened, including what John did in the lead up to going to the island that helped him rationalize his decision. This documentary is borderline harmful in glorifying this man and treating him like a dreamer with a calling instead of a selfish moron while making the people he endangered take a back seat to this wannabe colonialist.

The problem with missionary religious groups is that they are raised in a belief system of absolutes.

Pushing a fantasy on new generations that one "must" convert the globe to their way of thinking never takes into account the opinion of those they're trying to convert.

I don't come away from watching this documentary thinking of John Chau as a sympathetic figure in any way, shape or form. He is just another statistic in a long and - unfortunately - unbroken chain of the imperially arrogant devout who feels that their message is the only one worth heeding. A truly elevated and civilized human being doesn't think that way.

What a horrible doc. This could have been so interesting but they spent 90% of it on his background and 10% on the actual mission. What a waste.

How do the filmmakers not realize what is interesting about this story? It isn't John, or his father's journal. An hour in, and we're still nowhere near him actually attempting to go to the island. Then they just skate through that part, completely leaving out the most interesting details of the story.

Man, this was frustrating. Complete and total waste of time. You will learn more about north sentinel and this story from five minutes on Wikipedia. Hopefully someone remakes this story properly.

Years ago I aptly proclaimed that I was/am, and aptly gave myself the title of a, 'Documentary Nerd.' I honestly cannot think of a documentary that I've absolutely hated, nor have I ever not finished a documentary in its entirety...until this one! And my thoughts, feelings, rating, and review of this documentary have absolutely nothing to do with any religious, nor societal/sociological "right or wrong" points of view. They are, and it is, just what it is: This documentary was horribly boring and slow! Painfully so! I've sat in college trigonometry based physics lectures (as a NON-SCIENCE major!) after working a 12.5 hour overnight/night shift that held my attention more than this documentary (and that is saying A LOT!). Dull! Dry! Boring! And the information that was presented in it was so haphazardly thrown together and strewn about it was unbelievable! Adding to that, the director of the documentary couldn't seem to decide just what direction he wanted to go with this documentary, the underlying feeling that he was trying to achieve (ie. Touchy feely, or factually based). I sought high and low for this documentary after learning about it, hoping that it just happened to be including on one of my many streaming subscriptions and I was so excited when I found it on one of them that I instantly started watching it (or trying to watch it rather). Only to be horribly dismayed at how such an interesting story with so, so, so much documentary, and even feature film, potential was handled with such callous ineptitude and thus was subsequently destroyed.

Cinema, they say, has the power to shape narratives and this documentary is an example of one. Told one dimensionally from point of view of the deceased,it portrays the missionary(and in an early scene, all missionaries as a force of good somehow) almost as a martyr who died for a cause. In reality, he defied multiple warnings and still went to an exceptionally dangerous place just to diseminate his religious beliefs. And this, not even taking into account the fact, that for an uncontacted tribe, he could have bought in potentially lethal diseases that they would have no natural immunity against.

An ideal documentary presents or Atleast tries to, present the truth. This version is closer to a rewriting of the person's history after his death rather than anything else. Even from a cinematic viewpoint, there are far better ventures to make stuff on than drone on such subjects.

First, to those complaining this is "too Christian", it's anything but. This documentary tries to ride the line and show multiple sides, but it leans heavier to the "he was misguided" side with some strong digs toward evangelicals and missionary work in general. It is anything but sympathetic to mission work and goes out of its way to highlight all the "damage" done by missionaries, or at the very least, the wasted efforts (by interviewing a missionary turned atheist).

I appreciated the various points of view and the attempt to be impartial, but several things gummed up this documentary.

The animation was not appealing to me. I would have preferred re-enactments or a different animation style. It seemed cheap and cheesy at times, though still effective and better than nothing.

The editing was confusing, leaving me wondering what the point of the documentary was. For a documentary about such a focused and driven (misguided or not) young man, the film it self was far less confident and focused, meandering from non-commitment, to moments of sympathy, then on to scathing appraisals of disagreement, and finally landing with an awkward sense of off-balance closure with a religious, but non-Christian, poem by the dad.

I felt like this film tried to be something everyone could appreciate, but ended up being something that probably won't please the skeptics or the believers. We might assume that's the expected outcome of neutral journalism, but it felt too cobbled together and forced to seem relevant.

The information was fascinating, but the film, for me, was disappointing.

With no disrespect to the participants who knew, loved, and shared faith with John Chau, this film is just another piece of anti-Christian propaganda. The confused-missionary turned atheist and anthropologists incredulously lay out the absurdity more than once of a missionary's purpose from the perspective of their hosts. However, at no point does the illogic of referring to those who believe in genuine missionary work as "radical EVANGELICALS" occur to anyone, apparently.

Let's all do a little thought experiment: if Christianity had never spread to the Western world, would any of the things you regularly enjoy even exist? Would you?