The Mission

Why on earth do people feel the need to force their views and opinions on others?

Especially ones that live in the middle of nowhere and have made it clear they do not want to be contacted?

I actually think this makes religious nutters look even worse than I thought possible.

I've got a great idea why don't I go and force my opinions and views on other people that aren't interested!? There in lies the problem with the world and this piece of garbage.

The movie romanticised him way too much in the beginning and I actually think he got what he deserved...I know that may sound harsh, but I think the moral of the story is leave people to live in peace and mind you own business.

What a horrible doc. This could have been so interesting but they spent 90% of it on his background and 10% on the actual mission. What a waste.

How do the filmmakers not realize what is interesting about this story? It isn't John, or his father's journal. An hour in, and we're still nowhere near him actually attempting to go to the island. Then they just skate through that part, completely leaving out the most interesting details of the story.

Man, this was frustrating. Complete and total waste of time. You will learn more about north sentinel and this story from five minutes on Wikipedia. Hopefully someone remakes this story properly.

The problem with missionary religious groups is that they are raised in a belief system of absolutes.

Pushing a fantasy on new generations that one "must" convert the globe to their way of thinking never takes into account the opinion of those they're trying to convert.

I don't come away from watching this documentary thinking of John Chau as a sympathetic figure in any way, shape or form. He is just another statistic in a long and - unfortunately - unbroken chain of the imperially arrogant devout who feels that their message is the only one worth heeding. A truly elevated and civilized human being doesn't think that way.

The podcast Behind the B has an incredible series on this event and the history of colonialist and neighboring people involving themselves with the very unwilling North Sentinelese people that was very informative and interesting and made it very clear that these people want to be left alone and reinforcing that what Chau did was reckless, stupid, arrogant and selfish. I highly recommend the podcast if you want to actually learn about what happened, including what John did in the lead up to going to the island that helped him rationalize his decision. This documentary is borderline harmful in glorifying this man and treating him like a dreamer with a calling instead of a selfish moron while making the people he endangered take a back seat to this wannabe colonialist.

I read the story of John Chai before. Yes, he was someone's son and a lot of people's friend. But frankly... He was an a$$hole. He could have killed those poor people. There should have been ZERO perspective told from any evangelicals. There shouldn't be any validation that what he did was remotely acceptable. This kid has a messiah complex and caused nothing but pain and suffering to his parents and friends. The disgusting sermon in the end shouldn't have even been featured. To sum things up.. "Whether it's a sweet tribal tattoo or being killed by an isolated indigenous tribe, you just messed up the family Christmas photo"