the black robe

The Black Robe deals with the clash of cultures in a way that raises many questions in the viewers mind. The basic differences of each culture in terms of language, norms, beliefs and values, led to many misunderstandings and tragedies.
The basic premise of the movie, which is the foundation for both the action and ideas presented, is the Jesuits mission to convert the Native American Indians to Catholicism. The Jesuits believed that any baptized “savage” would automatically go to heaven upon death. For instance, in the movie the French mayor in New France introduced Black Robe and his aide as “Soldiers of Paradise”, “they are here to show you the true way of God”. In one of the other scenes in France, a Senior Priest says to his altar boy that the Jesuits “must convert the savages (just as they did in England and Germany)”. “What more glorious a task than to convert the savages- to civilize them”, so they can enter heaven.
The Algonquians, however, hav...