Plot Summary And Analysis Of The Film Black Robe

The film Black Robe displays a historical view of what happened during the infancy of Samuel De Champlain’s New France. The beginning of the film shows the jesuit priest that Champlain has decided to send to live with the Huron people. His name is Father Laforgue. Laforgue also recruits a young frenchman named Daniel, who gets the position by telling Laforgue that he is hopeful to become a priest one day and that he speaks the huron language. The two, along with other jesuit priests and Champlain attend a native ceremony before they set off on their journey. This use of the Huron by the French shows what the French’s true motives were with their relationship with the Huron.

The French forced the Huron to allow their Jesuit priests into their lives, in order for the Huron to be equal to their rivals: the Iroquois confederacy. They do this with guns and trading. Laforgue and Daniel embark on their journey and soon begin to learn how different the people who’s land they have come on to live. Daniel begins to fall in love with one of the people helping him through the journey - Chomina’s daughter Annika. Laforgue sees them being intimate and punishes himself, as jesuit priests are not entitled to feel lust. After more travelling, they meet up with a tribe of indigenous people that the group seem generally nervous about meeting. The group’s spiritual leader seems extremely afraid of the frenchman- and calls black robes demons. This is significant as it foreshadows what is to come with the Huron’s demise. It also shows how many indigenous people viewed Europeans. The Europeans would bring many bad things to the native population of North America, and it is understandable as to why they would feel this way, given that Europeans, and the French specifically felt it necessary to strip away native culture, religion and way of life. The two frenchmen are soon left behind by the group after the group coming to the conclusion that they are evil. Daniel stays with them and soon nearly has his life taken away by one of the tribesmen, however the trigger is never pulled. Daniel’s group is then attacked and captured by the Iroquois. When captured they are tortured by the iroquois, which shows the resentment that these two groups had toward each other. However, the surviving members of the group are able to escape confinement. At the end of the film, Chomina dies in the snow, and they unite with Father Laforge, who miraculously survived being on his own as well. Laforge goes to the mission by himself, and sees it is mostly abandoned. Many things throughout the film signify the demise of the Huron people.

One of the most important things that occur throughout the film is China's dreams. They show scenes of death and plague on his people, and these are things that end up happening in the film, and happened in history. There are many instances throughout the film in which cultures collide. One of the most notable of these instances is when it can be seen that the native people believe the frenchmen to be doing magic when they are able to write down different things that were said. The indigenous people that Laforge was living with had no written language, and it seems that they had no knowledge of a written language. This displays the contrast in technology and in culture between the french and the indigenous people. One had writing for hundreds of years, and one thought it was sorcery that ideas and language could be recorded in word form. Also, the French and natives religion can be seen colliding throughout their interactions during the film. The French often refer to and view the natives as godless savages, simply because they do not believe in the monotheistic, christian religion that the French want them to adopt. The two religious beliefs can be seen colliding when Father Laforge is asked by certain natives about certain christian teachings such as heaven. Laforge is asked about heaven and the natives do not seem impressed by what he says, or by the bible itself.