Two powerful movies that just came out on DVD show how important faith and good behaviour are for living a good life.
"Mother Teresa" is the story of the life of one of the most famous and respected women in the world. "End of the Spear" is the story of five American missionaries who worked with the Waodani Indians in the jungles of Ecuador.
Mother Teresa started the Missionaries of Charity. She was a nun who was born in Albania. Many people thought of her as a living saint because they called her "The Angel of Mercy." Her work with poor people in Calcutta made her one of the most famous people in the world. She started her order in 1950 to help people she called "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, and uncared for in society, people who have become a burden to society and are shunned by everyone."
Golden Globe-winner In "Mother Teresa," a DVD from Fox Home Entertainment, Olivia Hussey tells the life story of the holy woman. Mother Teresa was a smart diplomat and an unstoppable force. She wouldn't accept what other people said was impossible and fought fearlessly for the unloved and forgotten.
In 1956, a small group of missionaries tried to help the cannibal tribes in the darkest parts of Ecuador, but they were killed for their kindness. Years later, the wives of the men who had died went back to the village to carry on their husbands' missionary work. They brought their children with them to live with the tribesmen in the hope that the natives would find faith by seeing how forgiving they were.
"End of the Spear," based on the book "Through Gates of Splendor" by Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of one of the missionaries, tells this amazing true story of fear, faith, and forgiveness.
In the movie, Mincayani, a Waodani warrior, kills Steve Saint's dad and four other missionaries. Steve goes back to the Waodani as an adult and meets Mincayani. Together, they try to figure out what Steve's father's life and death, and the deaths of the other men, mean. Through Mincayani, Steve comes to forgive; through Steve, Mincayani comes to understand the lessons of the Bible and a path to a virtuous life.
