Reel American History - Films

0:02:27 Brandy for furs: Guard: Ooo, where did you trap them? St. Marie?
Trader: In the forest, my secret, Robles.
Laforgue: And how do you pay the Indian trappers, Mercier?
Trader: With knives, Father, with cooking pots.
Laforgue: With brandy, I'm told.
0:03:04 Dedicated and devout: Champlain: And what if there is no mission? What if your Father Laforgue arrives but to find two dead Jesuit martyrs?
Fr. Borque: We will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Champlain: Not we, it is Father Laforgue who must cross it. Has he journeyed far from this settlement, even in good weather?
Fr. Borque: No, he has been studying Algonquin and Huron languages. He is dedicated and devout.
0:03:16 An Officer and a Clergyman: Champlain: 1,500 miles by canoe, in that country, at the beginning of the winter. Death is almost certain, Father Bourque.
Fr. Bourque: Death is not always a great evil, Monsieur Champlain.
Champlain: God should have made me a Jesuit. You have answers for everything.(pause)
Champlain: He must paddle with them twelve hours a day or they will not respect them. He must smile and not show anger. He must carry a pack animal's load on his back as they do.
Fr. Borque: The journey, like our lives, is in God's hands.
0:05:15 Losing fingers and other things: Carpenter 1: Look at them. The English and Dutch have colonists, we have priests.
Carpenter 2: Who'd want to bring a woman here and have kids running wild in the woods, or starving in the winter?
Carpenter 3: Do you think they are going up river?
Carpenter 4: Who cares, as long as I'm not going. Leave the forest to the savages.
Carpenter 5: Remember that priest who came back like that? (showing missing fingers)
Carpenter 6: It was the Iroquois, they caught him.
Carpenter 7: That was just fingers. You could lose something more useful.
0:07:02 Captain Clock: Ougebmat: I told you. Captain Clock is alive. He speaks.
0:11:10 Guard him well: Champlain: These are our Fathers. They are soldiers of heaven. They left their friends and their country to show you the way to paradise.
Chomina: (talks in his language)
Champlain: Chomina, I commend to your care Father Laforgue who is journeying into the land of the Huron. Love and honor him. Guard him well.
0:12:06 Frenchmen Chastised by Laforgue: Frenchman 1: Look at him [Champlain], dressed like a savage chieftain. We're not colonizing the Indians; they're colonizing us.
Frenchman 2: Not me they're not. I'm not becoming one of those wild woodsmen. In one more year, I'm going back to France.
Laforgue: Are you? Are any of us? If the winter doesn't kill us, the Indians might. If they don't, it could be the English. So keep your faith, and may death find you with God in mind.
0:17:20 A glorious task: Tortured Priest: Good morning, you are?
Laforgue: Laforgue.
Priest: You're to serve my Mass. I'm the priest from New France. The savages did this to me.
Laforgue: The Indians? Why?
Priest: They are uncivilized, just as the English and the Germans were before we took our faith to them. In a few weeks I will be returning.
Laforgue: Returning to New France?
Priest: The savages live in outer darkness. We must convert them. What more glorious task than that? What more glorious task?
0:18:30: Daniel: Your name is Annuka? Mine is Daniel.
Annuka: You shouldn't say my name. . . Is the Blackrobe your father?
Daniel: No.
Annuka: Then why are you afraid of him? You are always watching me. But when he comes near, you pretend you don't see me.
Daniel: Because . . . it's difficult to explain.
Annuka: My father says nothing you French do makes any sense.
0:19:45 Making words: Chomina: Blackrobe, what you do?
Laforgue: Making words
Chomina: Words? You not speak.
Laforgue: I will show you. Tell me something . . . something I do not know.
. . . .
Laforgue: I have still other, greater things that I can teach you.
Ougebmat: He is a demon.
0:22:30 Get the tobacco: Daniel: Father, I mean no disrespect, but do you never have doubts?
Laforgue: What about?
Daniel: Them -- these people. If we change them . . .
Laforgue: If we do not change them, how can they enter heaven? Intelligence is not lacking among these people . . .
. . . .
Ougebmat: Where is our reward?
Laforgue: Reward?
Ougebmat: You have Iroquois tobacco. . . .
. . . .
Laforgue: What's the meaning of that again?
Daniel: You love the tobacco more than you love us.
Laforgue: And I do. I know them. They will ask and ask until they have everything we brought with us.
Daniel: Father, they don't understand. They share everything without question.
Laforgue: Then they should question. They plan nothing. They think only of the moment, hunting, food . . . get the tobacco, Daniel.
0:25:37 Laforgue Explains Paradise to the Algonquin: Ougebmat: Blackrobe, in your paradise, would we have tobacco?
Laforgue: You will not need tobacco there--you will need nothing.
Neehatin: No women?!
Laforgue: No. You will be happy just to be with God.
Algonquin: [grumbling]
Daniel: They don't seem too happy, Father.
Laforgue: They should be. I have told them the truth.
0:27:00 Ugly and stupid: Chomina: You have such beauty. Your mother was the same. . . Forget the ugly Frenchman.
Annuka: I thought that he was not so ugly.
Chomina: Ugly enough and stupid. He cannot provide for you.
0:27:45 Maternal matchmaking: Laforgue's mother: So charming, Mademoiselle ______, and so attractive, so modest, such a good family.
0:29:47 Blackrobe's Strange Promise: Annuka: Is the Blackrobe a demon? He must be. Blackrobes never have sex with women.
Daniel: It's a promise they make to their God.
Annuka: Why make a promise like that?
Daniel: Strange, isn't it?
. . . . . .
Laforgue: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
0:32:20 Chomina's dream: Chomina: I dreamt
Chomina's wife: Of what?
Chomina: Many things. There was a raven. It attacked me. I could not move.
Chomina's wife: The raven is the Blackrobe.
0:33:10 Find a sorcerer: Indian 1: What will we do?
Indian 2: Leave the Blackrobe and go hunting. There are moose down there.
Indian 3: I say we kill the Blackrobe.
Chomina: But he did not die in my dream.
Indian 4: Then we must understand and obey the dream. A dream is more real than death or battle.
Chomina: We must find a sorcerer. He will tell us what to do.
0:35:12 Are they intelligent?: Montaignais: They have hairy faces -- like dogs. Who are they?
Chomina: They are French.
Laforgue: We have come to help you. We have been sent by our God -- who is the God of us all.
Montaignais: He can't speak properly.
. . . .
Montaignais: Are they intelligent?
Ougebmat: No.
0:37:30 I am Mestigoit: Laforgue: What are you doing? Who are you?
Mestigoit: Why do you ask my name? You mustn't do that!
Laforgue: I am sorry. I forgot.
Mestigoit: You forgot because you are not a man but a demon. Demon!
Laforgue: No.
Mestigoit: I am Mestigoit. You have heard of me?
Laforgue: No.
Mestigoit: What is that you are looking at?
Laforgue: A book.
Mestigoit: booook.
............
Mestigoit: Demons fear noise! I curse you, Demon! . . . Leave us, Demon!
0:38:17 Flashback to France and Mother: Laforgue: Mother, what are you doing?
Mother: Praying to St. Joan. Perhaps God has chosen you as He chose her.
Laforgue: You must not compare me to a saint, Mother.
Mother: In New France, you will remember me in your prayers?
Laforgue: I always do.
Mother: God will hear your prayer. He has chosen you to die for Him. I will never see you again.
0:40:40 Lost: Laforgue: Is anyone there? I am lost. I'm afraid, Lord. I don't welcome death as a holy person should.
Indian: I thought I had another moose, but it's the Blackrobe.
Laforgue: I was lost.
Indian: How could anyone become lost? The woods are for men.
Indian: Did you forget to look at the trees, Blackrobe? This way, Blackrobe.
0:43:07 Dueling Afterlives: Laforgue: I too have committed a sin of the flesh.
Daniel: You, Father? What, in France long ago?
Laforgue: No, here -- the sin of intent. Here. I have lusted after her. You and me. Then let us say an Act of Contrition.
Daniel: Father, life is not so simple for the rest of us. I'm not a Jesuit.
Laforgue: You said you wanted to serve God.
Daniel: Yes, Father, but . . .
Laforgue: I'm afraid of this country. The devil rules here. He controls the hearts and minds of these poor people.
Daniel: But they are true Christians. They live for each other. They forgive things we would never forgive.
Laforgue: The devil makes them resist the truth of our teaching.
Daniel: Why should they believe them? They have an afterworld of their own.
Laforgue: They have no concept of one.
Daniel: Annuka has told me. They believe that in the forests at night the dead can see. The souls of men hunt the souls of animals.
Laforgue: Is that what she told you? That is childish, Daniel.
Daniel: Is it harder to believe in than a paradise where we all sit on clouds and look at God?
0:45:10 Kill him: Mestigoit: He is possessed by a demon.
Indian: But how do you know?
Mestigoit: I am not a man but a spirit. I dwelt under the earth. I know the dead -- and the evil.
Indian: Then what must we do?
Mestigoit: Kill him.
Indian: Who will kill him? You? Then you will be hunted by Champlain.
Indian: But who will talk? We are all friends here.
Mestigoit: The spirits are angry with you. For traveling with the demon Blackrobe. Listen, they are saying that I must protect you from his evil.
0:47:06 A Misinterpretation of Signs?: Mestigoit: Watch this . . . he's going to cast a spell.
Laforgue: [out of Algonquin earshot] Oh, God of mercy, please bless this innocent child.
Chomina: No, he is talking to his God.
Laforgue: [making sign of the cross] In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritu Sancti.
Ougebmat: See that sign? That's how they steal our spirit.
0:48:30 Abandoned: Laforgue: What is happening?
Ougebmat: This is for you.
Laforgue: You have not answered me.
Ougebmat: You refuse our gift? You are angry?
Daniel: No, we do not refuse it. We thank you.
Laforgue: Where are my paddlers. You promised.
Chomina: You go your own mission, alone, Black Robe.
Ougebmat: Ask your Jesus for help you, Black Robe.
0:51:25 Daniel chooses: Wife: Send the boy back
Chomina: He won't go.
Wife: He must.
Chomina: It's your fault. It's because your daughter lusts after him.
Wife: She's your daughter too.
0:53:07 Whose spell is it?: Mestigoit: He has put a spell on your daughter.
Indian: Perhaps she's put a spell on him.
0:53:24 A Pricey Promise: Ougebmat: You must do something.
Chomina: Me? If we had kept our promise to Champlain, there would be no problem.
Ougebmat: Promise? For axes, pots, and flints? Not even one musket.
Chomina: But we accepted their gifts! We have come to need them. This is our undoing--and it will be our ending.
Mestigoit: They are not gifts. There are no gifts given by the French that aren't paid for.
0:54:05 Chomina's change of heart: Ougebmat: The Black Robe will die . . . and so will this one.
Chomina: I may be stupid -- but I agreed to take them to the Huron mission.
0:54:33 A Prayer Before Suffering: Laforgue: Lord, if it be thy wish that I suffer greater privations in the days ahead, I welcome it. Thou hast given me this cross for thy honor and for the salvation of these poor barbarians. I thank thee.
1:02:09 Forgiveness: Daniel: Father, forgive me.
Laforgue: What for?
Daniel: The things I said to you, for leaving you.
Laforgue: God is with us. He's the one who forgives us.
1:07:40 Torture: Iroquois Chief: Today was but the first caress. You will die slowly. We will peel all the skin from you and you will still be alive.
1:08:07 Chomina and the Frenchmen among the Iroquois: Chomina: You want to be one of us. What do you think now?
Daniel: The Iroquois are not men. They are animals.
Chomina: They are the same as us, or the Huron. If they show pity, others say they are weak. Tomorrow, do not cry out.
Daniel: If we do cry out, will they stop?
Chomina: No, they will not stop. But if you cry out when you die, they will have your spirit.
Laforgue: When I die, Chomina, I will go to Paradise. Let me baptize you, and you will go there also.
Chomina: Why would I go to your Paradise? Are my people there? My woman? My boy? There is only Blackrobes.
1:09:20 Torture or trade: Iroquois Chief: Tomorrow, we will burn the girl at the stake. A gift for the God Areskoui. Her father we will caress until he screams.
Iroquois 1: He will not scream.
Iroquois 2: Do you realize the French are worth twenty muskets?
Iroquois 3: What do you mean?
Iroqouis 2: We could sell them back to Champlain.
Iroqouis 4: If we show our faces to Champlain, he will kill us.
Iroqouis 2: We will trade through the Dutchmen who live down the river.
Iroqouis 4: It's dangerous. They could betray us. And is it worth it? The muskets kill only once.
Iroqouis 2: No, they kill many times. It is a thing that must be learned -- like the bow and arrow.
1:13:01 Escape: Annuka: We will leave the Blackrobe.
Chomina: No.
1:14:45 Which direction?: Chomina: We'll go down river to my people.
Laforgue: No, we go up to the Huron mission.
Chomina: Get in. These fools can do what they want.
Laforgue: You are so weak, the Iroqouis will easily catch you, and they will never expect you to travel away from your people.
Chomina: You are not so stupid, Blackrobe.
1:15:43 Mercy for the Savages: Laforgue: Lord, I beg you, show your mercy to these savage people, who will never look upon your face in Paradise.
1:18:20 How to See the Future: Chomina: Tell me, Blackrobe, what does your dream say now?
Laforgue: I am too weary for dreams.
Chomina: You must. If you do not, how do you see the way ahead?
Laforgue: Put my trust in God. He will guide me all the way to paradise.
Chomina: But you have not seen this paradise. No man should welcome death. This world is a cruel place, but it is the sunlight. I am sorry I leave now. I know this place -- for many years in my dreams. If I only knew it was the dream of death. Think what a gift that would have been. I would have been brave. I would have been a great warrior.
Annuka: You are a great warrior.
Chomina: No, I am as stupid and greedy as any white man.Go now, the She-Manitou is waiting for me. Go. In my dream the Blackrobe walks alone.
Annuka: We are going.
Laforgue: Chomina, do you hear me? My God loves you . . . if you accept this love it will admit you to Paradise.
Annuka: Leave him, let him die in peace. The fool!
Daniel: No, he loves him.
Annuka: The forest is talking to us. We must go.
Chomina: Leave, my friend.
1:24:08 Laforgue Parts with Daniel and Annuka: Annuka: He will go alone. If he follows the river, he will soon reach the Huron village.
Daniel: But why, we cannot leave him now.
Annuka: We must.
Laforgue: Why?
Annuka: In my father's dream you are alone.
Daniel: Then I will go with you.
Laforgue: No, you must stay with her. She has lost everything because of us. She needs you more than I do.
Annuka: [urging that Blackrobe must go to the mission alone, as Chomina dreamt it] A dream is real. It must be obeyed.
Laforgue: We will do as she asks. What can we say to people who think that dreams are the real world; this one is an illusion. Perhaps they're right.
Daniel: Farewell, Father Laforgue.
Laforgue: No farewells. Not in this land. And no greetings, no names. The forests speak. The dead talk at night. God bless you both.
1:28:18 Baptism as Snake Oil for the Hurons: Fr. Jerome: Some months ago the fever struck this village. The Indians thought that we brought it to punish those who would not accept our faith. Many died. One man who lost his child killed Father Duvall.
Laforgue: What will they do now.
Fr. Jerome: Who knows what the savages will do. Who knows what they think. I am no nearer to understanding them now than I was twenty years ago. They will probably torture and kill us both.
Laforgue: But your converts, you must have some converts.
Fr. Jerome: There are no converts. Our only hope is that--some believe that baptism will cure their fever. If they ask for baptism, we must have a great public ceremony at once.
Laforgue: Fr. Jerome, shouldn't we--I mean, mustn't they understand our faith before accepting it?
Fr. Jerome: Understand? But they are in danger of death, and we are offering them a place in Paradise.
1:29:48 Christianity's Threat to the Hurons: Huron Man: We will carve pieces from their own bodies and force them to eat.
Huron Man: And the sickness?
Huron Man: Listen. Annieouton will cure the sickness.
Huron Man: When? Many are dead already.
Huron Man: The Blackrobes want us to give up the dream. To have only one wife. To stop killing our enemies. If we obey them, we will no longer be Hurons. And soon our enemies will know our weakness and wipe us from the earth.
1:31:55 Confession: Laforgue: Father, death may be near. Will you hear my confession?
Fr. Jerome: If you will hear mine.
1:32:09 Laforgue's Moment of Doubt: Laforgue: Lord, why is Fr. Jerome with you in Heaven, while Chomina lies forever in utter darkness? Help me.
1:34:08 The Huron Plea for Baptism: Huron Chief: Demon, why are you here?
Laforgue: I'm not a demon. I take the place of Fr. Jerome.
Huron Chief: He is dead.
Laforgue: Yes.
Huron Chief: How long do you stay?
Laforgue: All of my life.
Huron Chief: If we take a water sorcery, we will not be sick?
Laforgue: Baptism will not cure you.
Huron Chief: The other Blackrobes said so.
Laforgue: It means only that we ask the help of Jesus. Perhaps he will answer your prayers.
Huron Chief: (talks to his people)
Huron Chief: Many want to kill you, Blackrobe.
Laforgue: I know.
Huron Chief: A demon cannot feel grief. Are you a man?
Laforgue: Yes.
Huron Chief: You must help us Blackrobe. Do you love us?
Laforgue: (pause) Yes.
Huron Chief: Then baptize us.
1:35:45 Prayer: Laforgue: Spare them, spare them, O Lord.
1:36:20 The Aftermath: Text on screen: Fifteen years later, the Hurons, having accepted Christianity, were routed and killed by their enemies, the Iroquois. The Jesuit mission to the Hurons was abandoned, and the Jesuits returned to Quebec.