Black Robe

Black Robe (1991) is Bruce Beresford's historical drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. In the dead of a 17th-century winter, young Jesuit priest LaForgue leaves the small French settlement at Quebec and pushes deep into the frozen forest to baptize the Huron.

Algonquin guides led by the chief Chomina take him north, and with them goes Daniel, a French settler who has fallen for Chomina's daughter Annuka. The trek is brutal — starvation, cold, an Iroquois war party, and a gulf of mistrust no campfire can close. The priest sees savages; the natives see a madman who'd give up a woman and a warm bed for an invisible God. Lothaire Bluteau plays LaForgue, with August Schellenberg as Chomina and Sandrine Holt as Annuka.

Beresford refuses the usual missionary epic. No heroes, no villains, no easy verdict on who needs saving — the camera sides with the wilderness over the mission, and faith here brings loss rather than rescue. The film swept six Genie Awards, Canada's top prize, including Best Picture. Stream Black Robe (1991) online on iFILM.