On the Film "The Black Robe"

The film Black Robe (1991) is a window into the turbulent relationships that both Indian tribes and French fur traders forged as Europeans began populating the northern interior of the Americas in the 17th century.  In the film, Daniel, a trapper, and LaForgue, a Catholic priest, are tasked with travelling 1500 miles from their French settlement to find the Huron, in an effort to open up trade routes further inland, and engage in missionary activities to convert Indian people to Christianity.  They travel with Algonquin guides Chomina and Ougebmat, who are wary of their intentions.  And the Algonquin shaman Mestigoit is even warier still, convinced that LaForgue is a 'demon' because of the foreign religion he is foisting on the Indian people.  As it turns out, beset upon by a violent Indian war party, both French and Algonquin alike find themselves in need of each other in order that they survive the challenges of disease, war, and the elements.  Much like Pontiac in 500 Nations, Episode 5: Cauldron of War (1995) or Magwa and his Huron warrior-allies in the epic film The Last of the Mohicans (1992), a theme prevalent in the surviving documents and popular stories of this era is the common humanity – that uncertain, endangered conquerors and their newfound Indian 'friends' relied on one another for survival and commerce.  In one exchange during Black Robe the Algonquin guides and shaman are discussing the peril of their endeavor with one another:

            Chomina: “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.”[1]

Indeed, camped at a river, Algonquin women use large, cast-iron cooking pots to feed the large group of travelers as their trip gets underway.  The Indians had come to rely on European goods as much as their conquerors relied on them for their expertise in the strange, ‘new world’. 

As Roger L. Nichols notes in his book American Indians in U.S. History, “[w]omen found that iron and brass cooking pots outlasted stone or ceramic pottery and made food preparation easier.”[2]  The cultural exchange and rich trade between North American Indian groups and conquering Europeans, and the bonds that were forged, often out of necessity, is an overarching theme in the documents, stories, and images that survive from the 16th-18th century period of conquest.

Bibliography

Black Robe. Dir. Bruce Beresford. Perf. Lothaire Bluteau and Aden Young. Alliance, 1991. DVD.

Nichols, Roger L. American Indians in U.S. History. 2nd ed. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.

[1] Black Robe, 1991.

[2] Nichols, Roger L. American Indians in U.S. History, p. 42.