History Film / BlackRobe

* DwindlingParty: PlayedWith. [[spoiler: Only Chomina's closest kin travel with him back to retrieve the priest and all of them, excepting Annuka, die. In the end, [=LaForgue=] asks Daniel to stay with her and leave him alone, to fulfill the prophetic dream Chomina had where the priest travels alone]].

** Daniel actively embraces GoingNative and has no moral qualms of any kind, along with continuously calling out [[=LaForgue=]] on his missionary antics. In the film, he's head over heels in love with Annuka and that's all he cares about.

* AdaptedOut: The two fur traders, first present in Quebec and [[spoiler: later saving the remnants of [[=LaForgue=]] expedition]], are respectively replaced by two smug asshole merchants in the opening and not present at all in the final part.

** In the film, he does something very similar, only to ''forcefully baptise Chomina's wife'', to complete bewilderment of everyone around him.

* DeadpanSnarker: [=LaForgue=] snarks at his fellow Frenchmen all the time, quite viciously at that. Alternatively, he has a ''truly'' morbid sense of humour.

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Father Duval was murdered by one of the Hurons, most likely with a hatchet to his face. He never had a chance to close his eyes. Meanwhile, when one morning [=LaForgue=] finds father Gerome dead in his bed, the old man's eyes are still open, suggesting he ''wasn't'' asleep when he passed away]].

* NightmareSequence: Chomina has a recurring nightmare, in which he's in some unknown island, weak and dying, with a raven picking his eye. All while in the distance, a black robe walks alone. It is implied in dialogues he's been having this nightmare for ''years''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never learn what happened to [[spoiler: the rest of the party. The fate of Daniel and Annuka also remains unresolved]].

* OnlySaneMane: the Mohawk chief, who is the only one of his tribe to understand there would be more profit in ransoming the prisoners for goods than in torturing them to death and that there has to be a way to make muskets shoot more than once.

* OnlySaneMan: The Mohawk chief, who is the only one to think they could exchange the prisoners for goods instead of torturing them to death and that there has to be a way for muskets to shoot a second time.

** Then again, the lying Jesuit firly believes the Hurons' accepting baptism means they will be saved even though they didn't understand what they were doing by acceptig it. This puts him in WellIntentionedExtremist territory

* OnlySaneMan: the Mohawk chief, who is the only one to think they could exchange the prisoners for goods instead of torturing them to death and that there has to be a way for muskets to shoot a second time.

* MightyWhitey: Averted, with [=LaForgue=] realizing in the film's final scene that, if he wants to convert the Huron to Christianity, he needs to treat them like equals and not the superstitious children they're often treated as.

* OnlySaneMan: the Iroquois chief is the only one to grasp that prisoners could be traded for muskets instead of being tortured to death… and that there must be a ay to reload muskets.

* CultColony: Invoked, discussed and ultimately subverted. The French settlers mockingly refer to the amount of clergy and missionaries they get, instead of women, merchants and craftsmen to provide any future for their colony, all while other countries provide exactly that to their settlers. [[spoiler: The missions themselves are utter failure in their current operation, while the eventual success it still rendered into a pointless exercise in futility by outside factors]].

* AnachronismStew: Joan of Arc wasn't made a saint until 1920, and very few people cared or knew much about her in the 17th century anyhow.

* BigLittleMan: Father [=LaForgue=] is harangued by the shaman Mestigoit, who is filmed close to the camera -- it's only when he comes face-to-face with [=LaForgue=] (who is sitting down) that we realize how short he is.

* ForeseeingMyDeath: [[spoiler: Chomina has a vision of where he's going to die, but he doesn't realize this until he's there and actually dying. He then expresses regret that he never realized the meaning of his recurring dream, as he could have been a fearless warrior if he had known]].

* HonorBeforeReason: Chomina decides to [[spoiler: go back and help the black robe]]. He ''openly admits'' this is stupid, but it's still his honor at stake and it's better to die than break an oath.

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: [[spoiler: Eventually Chomina admits [=LaForgue=] might not be completely stupid, while the priest honors his will to die unbaptized]].

* LifeWillKillYou: It is noted several times by different characters surviving a winter is an achievement all by itself, even is such "civilized" place like Quebec.

* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler: When realizing he was always dreaming about his own death, Chomina laments to Annuka he could have been a better, braver and wiser chief if he knew in advance what the dream meant. If he'd known the moment of his death, he'd have approached many situations in the past differently]].

* {{Precognition}}: [[spoiler: The recurring nightmare turns out to be this. Chomina instantly recognizes the place from his dream as the one where he will die. He only asks to be left there, since he's already mortally wounded]].

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: [[spoiler: The three Huron elders talk about how their enemies will learn about their weakness if they embrace Christianity and this will lead to the doom of their entire confederacy. Still, they on their own decide to take baptism... and right after that the final card informs us how the Hurons were mostly wiped out by the Iroquois fifteen years later]].

* CultureClash: All the freaking time. Sometimes downward scary, like when like [=LaForgue=] tries to explain what writing is and gets taken for a demon when Daniel reads his note without any oral passage of information.
* CunningLinguist: Subverted. It is noted even by [=LaForgue=] himself his Algonquin is awful and each time a new group or a tribe meets him, they instantly pick up how strange his speech patterns are. He still does his best to speak to them in their own language rather than French, though.

* DeconstructorFleet: A very thorough deconstruction of all missionary fiction along with [[NobleSavage romantic take on natives]] and [[BoldExplorer exploration of unknown lands]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Forceful baptism of a dying person is strongly frowned upon in modern Catholic Church - the consent is outright demanded.

* {{Fingore}}: All over the place, since Mohawks routinely cut fingers of their captives.

** [[spoiler: When captured by Mohawks, [=LaForgue=] gets his left index finger cut in half with an oyster shell. The Mohawk chief is quite impressed, since the Jesuit didn't made a sound]]. And it's all shown in detail.

* FluffyCloudHeaven: The main reason why the Jesuits have such hard time converting natives is because this is how they describe Heaven and Paradise to them. The natives find the concept ''immensely'' unappealing.
* ForeseeingMyDeath: [[spoiler: Chomina has a vision of where he's going to die, but he doesn't realise this until he's there and actually dying. He then expresses regret that he never realised the meaning of his recurring dream, as he could have been a fearless warrior if he had known]].

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Eventually [=LaForgue=] realises that not only he is sure to die a horrible death (something he already partially accepted before even departing into the wilderness), but that he is a flawed person of prideful nature. He proceeds to TurnTheOtherCheek from then on]].

* HonorBeforeReason: Chomina decides to [[spoiler: go back and help the black robe]]. He ''openly admits'' this is stupid, but it's still his honour at stake and it's better to die than break an oath.

* GoingNative: Daniel seems to be going down this road but after the horrific encounter with the Iroquois Chomina asks him:

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: [[spoiler: Eventually Chomina admits [=LaForgue=] might not be completely stupid, while the priest honours his will to die unbaptized]].

* LifeWillKillYou: It is noted several times by different characters surviving a winter is an achievement all by itself, even is such "civilised" place like Quebec.

* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler: When realising he was always dreaming about his own death, Chomina laments to Annuka he could have been a better, braver and wiser chief if he knew in advance what the dream meant. If he'd known the moment of his death, he'd have approached many situations in the past differently]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: All that [=LaForgue=] achieves in the end - ''[[AmbiguousEnding if]]'' [[AmbiguousEnding he achieves anything]] - will lead to the undoing of Hurons and their complete wipe-out by Iroquois]].

* {{Precognition}}: [[spoiler: The recurring nightmare turns out to be this. Chomina instantly recognises the place from his dream as the one where he will die. He only asks to be left there, since he's already mortally wounded]].

* ReversePsychology: [[spoiler: After escaping from the Mohawks, [=LaForgue=] suggests they still go up-river to the Huron mission, as the Mohawks will rather assume they tried to go downstream to join fellow Algonquins. Chomina agrees, finally admitting the jesuit is not as stupid as he looks]].

* RiverOfInsanity: [[spoiler: Both Chomina and [=LaForgue=] get more and more anxious as they travel up-river, while members of their expedition get less and less loyal. In the same time, the missionary is slowly, if surely {{going native}}, at least as far as his moral compass goes. And this is portayed as a ''[[DeliberateValuesDissonance good thing]]'']].
* ScarpiaUltimatum: [[spoiler: Annuka willingly has sex with a guard in Mohawk camp, but right when he climaxes, she bashes his head in and proceeds to free the rest of the expedition]]. The entire sequence is ''very'' explicit, even compared with other shots and scenes containing sex.

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: [[spoiler: The three Huron elders talk about how their enemies will learn about their weakness if they embrace Christianity and this will lead to the doom of their entire confederacy. Still, they on their own decide to take baptism... and right after that final card informs how Hurons were deliberately wiped out by Iroquis fifteen years later]].
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: [=LaForgue=] reaches the remote mission and starts to work there. Some of the Hurons accept Christianity... which lead to tribal fractionalism, which weakens the already barely holding confederacy and eventually leads to the brutal conquest and massacres by Iroquis just fifteen years later. Oh, and the Jesuits missions in the area were disbanded or abandoned soon after that. The final card really doesn't beat the bush about any of it]].

* SpiritualAntithesis: To the NobleSavage romanticism of ''Film/DancesWithWolves''
* StockSoundEffects: [[spoiler: When [=LaForgue=] and Daniel are forced into running the gauntlet by Iroquois, stock sounds of being hit are used. It fits the scene just as much as you expect]].

* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: The Mohawk chief slash the throat of Chomina's son. Right in front of Chomina, who is strip naked and forced to continue singing as the boy bleeds to death]].

* BlingOfWar: As part of the NotSoDifferent message, right in the opening both de Champlain and Chomina prepare themselves for negotiations by slowly putting on more and more elaborate elements of their formal attire. All while being otherwise being very pragmatic men wearing even more pragmatic clothes.

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Father Duval was murdered by one of the Hurons, most likely with a hatchet to his face. He never had a chance to close his eyes. Meanwhile, when one morning La Forgue finds father Gerome dead in his bed, the old man's eyes are still open, suggesting he ''wasn't'' asleep when he passed away]].

* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: The clothing of the natives and colonists is quite accurate.

* CultureClash
* DiesWideOpen: Lots of people.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: As usual, quite prophetic. Chomina wishes he had acted upon them much sooner.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Through the above-mentioned dreams.
* {{Fingore}}: All over the place.

** Of course, at the end, he does go off with Annuka. And that's where the Metis come from.

* IndianMaiden: Kind of. Annuka is TheChiefsDaughter who falls in love with a white man. However, she very much averts the DamselInDistress stereotype and is much more hot-headed and impatient than her father.

* TheMissionary
* NobleSavage: Subverted.
* NotSoDifferent: On a cultural level. Moore compares the superstition of the natives with the Catholic beliefs of the missionaries. In the film Daniel suggests this point to [=LaForgue=]. Visual juxtaposition to this effect is all over the place.

* SceneryPorn: Wow, Canada.

* TranslationConvention: Played straight for French, which is mostly rendered in English (mostly by native French-speakers, too, interestingly enough). Averted for the indigenous languages.

* FakeNationality: Many of the native characters, major, secondary and extras, were played by non-native actors.

* SpiritualAntithesis: To the NobleSavage romanticism of ''DancesWithWolves''

Jesuit missionary Father [=LaForgue=] is anxious to evangelize the indigenous peoples of 17th century interior Canada. He sets out from Quebec with the guidance of Chomina, an experienced Algonquin traveler, Chomina's family, several other natives and the non-Jesuit carpenter, Daniel. [=LaForgue=] struggles with his deeply-held religious convictions as he encounters a vast, alien landscape; meets various hostile natives and confronts cultural attitudes he fails to understand.

* BigLittleMan: Father [=LaForgue=] is harangued by the shaman Mestigoit, who is filmed close to the camera -- it's only when he comes face-to-face with [=LaForgue=] (who is sitting down) that we realise how short he is.

* DiesWideOpen: Lots of people

* {{Fingore}}: All over the place

----

* GoingNative: Subverted. Daniel seems to be going down this road but after the horrific encounter with the Iroquois Chomina asks him:

* InjunCountry: Averted
* MightyWhitey: It's a lot more subtle than you might expect for a film like this but it's the core of the message.

!!Provides Examples Of: