I agree it wasn't the best of movies.
The Waodani's lied because they believed the white men had killed the sister of one of them -- Dayuma, who was actually living at the time with Nate Saint's sister Rachel. The Waodani's kept asking to be taken to Dayuma but the missionaries didn't understand their language. They knew a few words and phrases but not enough to communicate.
Many years later, it was learned that the missionaries were killed because they showed the Waodani's a picture of Dayuma. The Waodani's had no idea what a photograph was. They recognized Dayuma but thought she had been killed and the picture was some sort of spirit.
The missionaries did not defend themselves with the gun because (1) they were wimps and (2) they wanted the Waodani to understand that they were friendly. One of them had said earlier if they fired the gun in the air that would scare off the Waodani's -- guess he figured wrong.
The missionaries knew they would likely be killed at some point. They wanted to be martyrs. "Through the Gates of Splendor" was later written by Elisabeth Elliot, one of the widows. She explained her husband Jim's deep commitment to bringing Christ to the Waodani's. Later, it was told by those who had killed the men that they had all seen a bright light above the tree tops and what appeared to be angels.
The widows and children (some not all) went back because they believed God was calling them to spread the gospel. Seriously. They lived among the Waodani and eventually made Christians out of most of them.
When Rachel Saint died in 1994, Steve (the little boy in the movie) and his family went to Ecuador for the funeral. He met the man who had killed his father and grew quite fond of him, if you can believe that. Were me, I'd have put a bullet in him.
I hope this answers some of your questions. The story has always fascinated me but made me wonder why on earth these five men chose to die and leave their children fatherless?
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