Film Analysis Essay on At Play in the Fields of the Lord: Ethics, Institutions, and Conflict

Introduction

The film At Play in the Fields of the Lord illustrates the similarities and differences of different types of institutions have similar and different ethical regulations that apply to their business activities. The film opens with an airplane carrying Lewis Moon landing at a poor jungle settlement where the Commander tries to convince them to bomb a nearby village (Babenco 00:03:28-00:17:39). On the other hand, another plane carrying Aidan Quinn and his family lands on the same area. Aidan was a dedicated missionary who despite his failure to convert any Indians into Christians, is optimistic and still keeps up with his missionary work. They settle among a tribe who represent great immorality as well as prostitution. On the other side, Moon gets drunk and jumps from a plane to meet the people from the local tribe. The people see him descending from the skies and perceive him to be the emissary from their god who helps them by leading the tribe against the missionaries (Babenco 00:41:37-01:55:30). The film does not observe the traditional climax but concentrates on the beliefs instead of actions. In the end, At Play in the Fields of the Lord uses amicable cinematography to recreate the native rituals of the Indians. The movie is however rated R due to the vulgarity, nudity, and violence portrayed by the characters.

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The movie At Play in the Fields of the Lord portrays the similarities between missionary work and ordinary businesses. Just like a new business, missionary work is hard to penetrate new areas or places that already have an established religion that is practiced by the people. In the film, legendary missionaries faced difficulty in spreading Christianity to the point that they were unable to convert any Indians to Christianity. However, just like new people in business, the missionaries had to be optimistic and carry on their evangelization. New people in the industry also have to be confident that they will achieve their goals despite the difficulties that they may face while developing their businesses.

Despite the apparent similarity between mission work and ordinary businesses, there are differences in ethical concerns that distinguish one entity from the other. For instance, in this movie, when the missionaries are arrested, they are asked to team up with the local people to fight a particular tribe. The ethical concern of conflict of interest among the missionaries has been indicated in this film in such a way that several missionaries betray each other in the movie. According to Ferrell et al., "conflict of interest occurs when a leader uses their position to get personal gains at the expense of the organization" (41). Therefore, this shows that leadership plays an essential role in dictating the ethical values of a community since the actions of the people depend on the decisions of the leader.

Conclusion

The movie At Play in the Fields of the Lord illustrates the importance of missionary work, which is not monetary. The film suggests that a person's humanity is proportional to the strength of their faith. The movie also shed light on the ethical concerns such as greed, religion in the quest of achieving goals that have been set. Through the film, it is evident that some occupations such as missionary work cannot be banned even though they may not be making any profits. Missionaries attempt to spread compassion and tolerance as spiritual resources that will help people to open their hearts to others.

Works Cited

At Play in the Fields of the Lord. Directed by Hector Babenco, Perf. Kathy Bates, John Lithgow, Aidan Quinn, Tom Berenger, Daryl Hannah, Tom Waits . 1992. Universal Pictures, 1992.

Ferrell, O. C., et al. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases. 12th ed., Cengage Learning, 2014.