My Review of Last Days

(image credit: wikipedia)

I do not desire hagiography. We need to know the truth about those who have gone before us, both the good and bad. I do not have problems with creative liberties used in story-telling as long as the truth is communicated and not hindered by drama.

Last week, Last Days released nationwide in the U.S. This movie, written by Ben Ripley and directed by Justin Lin, describes the last days of John Chau's life before being killed by an unengaged unreached people group on the North Sentinel Island in 2018.

I must state the extent of my knowledge regarding Chau has been documented on this site. In November of 2018, I hosted Dr. Pam Arlund on my podcast where we discussed what had occurred, was being reported, and not being reported. In 2023, I wrote about the National Geographic documentary (The Mission) on John Chau. I have not read his journal. It has not been made public. This must be kept in mind when reading my thoughts on Last Days.

Spoiler alert. Last Days is not a documentary but a drama. The following information contains details regarding the movie.

Justin Lin noted his desire to work on this film was driven by the story and not any theological conviction. I enjoyed the cinematography and various points of tension and conflict that kept the film moving along. However, it appears what was portrayed and what is known are at odds at significant points throughout the two hours. Artistic liberties should be allowed for drama, but when they mislead (intentional or not) a line is crossed. It is a dangerous matter to embellish what is recent biography. The storyline at times introduces elements which do not make sense with the movie's grand narrative, regardless of reality. For example, within twenty-four hours of being attacked (first time) by the North Sentinel Islanders, Chau meets a girl and ends up in her bed. Shortly after she removes her top and throws him a condom, he decides not to sleep with her. Near the end of the film, the main officer chasing Chau reveals that her emotional problems shown throughout the movie are due to the fact she is a lesbian and her lover will not marry her because she is not of the same religion. She then declares people like herself and Chau end up in South Asia when they are "lost." These two significant points appear from nowhere and are shoehorned into the movie, leaving viewers puzzled but aware of a deeper agenda.

While Chau is portrayed as someone committed to Christ and taking the gospel to the unreached (though he is not portrayed as one who practices evangelism among english speakers), viewers walk away from the film believing he was a lost, unsure, troubled, thrill-seeking young man.

The movie is fast-paced, jumping back and forth in time, and runs two primary storylines. One is about Chau getting from college to the North Sentinel Island. The other is about the South Asian police officer in pursuit of the missionary.

Chau encounters a cussing, missionary, pilot who states there are two types of missionaries: 1) bureaucrats who hand out soccer balls to children while sealed off in their missionary compounds; and 2) those who are the pioneers that go to the difficult to reach people. When Chau inquires about the second type, his new friend simply replies "God does not make many of them." From this moment on, Chau decides to take the pilot's advice and start taking risks and go "far behind enemy lines." This, however, later leads to a tense moment when Chau informs his friend he will take the advice and go to the North Sentinel Island. The pilot rebukes him for being foolish and states Chau should not go. Realizing Chau will not change his course, the pilot then offers instruction on how to create an online profile as a risk-taking, adventure-seeker to fool the Indian government of his missionary intentions.

Chau later engages in missionary training in Georgia which is portrayed exclusively as survival training.

Chau's conversations with friends includes inquiring about risk taking for Christ. While texting a couple planning to go to North Korea, the correspondence includes the competitive declaration: "first person to heaven wins!"

Tensions exist between Chau and his father, who claims to have joined a church to be accepted in the U.S. and to meet nice people. Chau wants to be a missionary; his father wants him to become a doctor. "You've always been a dreamer, John," his father states, "but it's time to wake up."

After the aforementioned escapade Chau had with the girl in her room, he spends the night alone having a mental breakdown. He keeps asking himself "what are you trying to prove?" Problems with his father and the girl's words that going as a missionary to the Islanders is "disgusting," haunts him throughout the night.

The next day, Chau meets up with the girl, apologizes for his behavior and rejecting her sexual advances, and expresses his affections. He states he "revealed himself" to her and was not to reveal himself to the Islanders. Before she catches her ride to airport, Chau declares that other people can go to the Islanders for he wants to go with her. She departs, Chau follows.

At the airport, his romantic interest boards her flight and leaves him standing outside security. Just then, his missionary pilot friend shows up to offer encouragement yet states "the demands that Christ makes to us are unreasonable."

Chau heads back to the North Sentinel Island, shoots a final video with the words, "the first one to heaven wins," encounters the Islanders, sees a note in the front of his Bible from his father, and sadly states "ahh dad" as his last words.

Everyone knows what happens next.

While the National Geographic documentary has its limitations, they are fewer than Last Days. There it was noted Chau was an adventure-seeker but his relationship with Christ and theological convictions drove him to take the gospel to the Islanders. He was known to live a celibate lifestyle. He had a strategy that involved learning their culture and context and planned to live among the people the rest of his life.

If you must decide between The Mission and Last Days, spend your time with the former as the latter fails to represent what has been known about Chau. Until his journal is made public and interviews prove otherwise, I will assume the fiction of Last Days is fiction. . . but most viewers will be unable to separate that from fact.