A documentary about a young missionary who was killed in 2018, by those he went to convert, questions whether he was full of faith or madness.
The Mission tells the story of the American John Chau, who went to preach the gospel to the remote and virtually unknown people of North Sentinel Island, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal.
The film, which is showing currently in America tells of how Chau, who grew up a Christian and was also fascinated by adventure, paid pirates to take him to the remote island so that he could preach the gospel to those who live there.
The 26-year-old was killed by the North Sentinel people on his second visit, who shot him with a bow and arrow.
The island is, according to The Washington Post, legally off limits to outsiders, “in part to prevent the introduction of diseases against which the residents lack immunity". It is overseen by India, which is said to have a policy of not prosecuting islanders for killing interlopers.
The film, directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss and produced by Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn interviews friends and acquaintances of Chau. Chau’s father contributed a letter used by the film makers, but his mother and two siblings did not.
Film review website Rotten Tomatoes called it “a compassionate and nuanced approach to retelling a real-life tragedy [which] makes this an engrossing exploration of the intersection between delusion and faith.”
The film is due to be released in Great Britain on 17th November.
