Beyond the Gates of Splendor (2002)

A beautifully crafted documentary about five young missionaries who were martyred by a savage tribe of Indians in the mid 1950s and the heroic effort of reconciliation that has followed.

Director:

Jim Hanon

Writer:

Jim Hanon

Stars:

Steve Saint, Carmela, Dawa

2 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Steve Saint	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carmela	...	Herself
Dawa	...	Herself
Dayumae	...	Herself
Frank Drown	...	Himself
Kathy Saint Drown	...	Herself
Elisabeth Elliot Gren	...	Herself
Dave Howard	...	Himself
Kimo	...	Himself
Olive Fleming Liefeld	...	Herself
Christopher Maleki	...	King Cyrus
Marilou McCully	...	Herself
Mincaye	...	Himself
Malcolm Nurnberg	...	Himself (as Col. Malcolm Nurnberg)
Ompodae	...	Herself

Storyline

Set in the Amazon basin of Ecuador, Beyond the Gates of Splendor tells the story of the Waodani, a violent and isolated tribe, and five North American families who contacted them. All five of the North American men were killed (Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully). Elisabeth Elliot, the wife of one of the men, and Rachel Saint, the sister of another, went to live with the Waodani. Later, Steve Saint, the son of one of the slain men moved his family from Florida to live with the same Waodani family that had killed his father.

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Plot Keywords:

missionary | 1950s | five word title | written by director | waodani indian | 

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Taglines:

a story beyond tragedy... beyond reason... beyond imagination

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violent content and thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

27 September 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beyond the Gates

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$36,412, 7 November 2004, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$38,307, 1 April 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bearing Fruit Entertainment, Toy Gun Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The small film team spent 17 days filming interviews in the Amazon basin in Ecuador. They arrived there slowly, as anyone else arrives there. First by bus, then propeller plane, then hours in a canoe.

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Quotes

Elisabeth Elliot Gren: We were both Greek Majors. We saw each other every day. Every once in a while he would come along and he'd just slap his books down on the table and he'd sit down next to me and he'd say, "Well, where we were today?" And I said, "Well, What do you mean, 'Where are we?' You know I'm on this page and you're six pages behind or something."

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Connections

Followed by End of the Spear (2005)

User Reviews

A powerful documentary telling the story of what happened after the widows of 5 murdered missionaries forgave the S.A. Indians who killed them.

I agree with film lover that this is an amazing film about an amazing group of Christians who really "walk the walk" when it comes to loving and forgiving enemies. The widowed Elizabeth Elliott and her aunt not only forgave the Aucas who killed her husband, but went out and lived among them with the help of some Auca women. And she took her two young children with her! This DVD goes beyond a previous film, "Through Gates of Splendor," to show the children and the grandchildren's experience over many years living with the Aucas. Kathy, a daughter tells how she chose two of her father's killers to participate in her baptism, the ceremony held in the river near the grave of her father and his four colleagues. There's more to this inspiring documentary, ably edited from home movies, newsreels, photographs, and on camera interviews with Aucas and members of the missionary families. And by the way, there is a feature film coming, based on this story. Entitled THE END OF THE SPEAR, it's due out in January 2006. A neat double meaning to the title, the five men losing their lives at the end of a spear, and the coming of the missionaries bringing an end to the era of endless cycles of murder by the spear that threatened the Aucas with extinction.