MovieChat Forums > Black Robe (1991) Discussion > LaForgue = Jean de Brebeuf

LaForgue = Jean de Brebeuf

posted 9 years ago by p_banger-104-406104
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Father LaForgue's life and events in "Black Robe" directly parallel the real events of the martyred Jean de Brebeuf, a French Jesuit missionary. Even the start and death dates are pretty much the same.

Yet this parallel is not acknowledged anywhere online other than in college papers. Why?

Is this a Brian Moore (author) issue or issue with the liberties the film takes with some of its other portrayals?

As hard as this film found it to get backing, even after "Dances With Wolves," that was the one window it would have. Nobody would back such a lift of de Brebeuf's life, particularly with the way it depicts the Iroquois.

It's not a bad film, it just plays too fast and loose with history for me.

[–] spookyrat1 7 years ago

Father LaForgue's life and events in "Black Robe" directly parallel the real events of the martyred Jean de Brebeuf, a French Jesuit missionary.

That may be true, but the fact of the matter is that this is a fictitious film, that at no time acknowledges the LaForgue character being based on a specific, real life figure. That is why

... this parallel is not acknowledged anywhere ...

Moore, who wrote the book his own screenplay is based on, produced a work of historical fiction, not non-fiction. Therefore claims such as ...

It's not a bad film, it just plays too fast and loose with history for me.

... are rather silly. 🐭