The Mission

In 1750, Spain ceded part of Jesuit Paraguay to Portugal. The Jesuits had converted many of the Guaranis. The Guaranis above the waterfalls still reject the church sending a crucified priest over the falls. Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) climbs up the falls and converts the tribe with his music. He confronts slaver Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) who is now hunting above the falls. Mendoza returns to town to find his fiancée and his brother Felipe (Aidan Quinn) are now in love. In a jealous rage, he kills his brother. He is despondent and Gabriel offers him work with the Guaranis as penance. Together with Gabriel and other brothers like Fielding (Liam Neeson), they make the mission thrive. Papal emissary Cardinal Altamirano (Ray McAnally) arrives to decide if the church will continue to protect the missions from the slave running Portugese now that the land has been transfer from Spanish protection.

The location is magnificent. The actors are terrific. And the music score from Ennio Morricone is both epic and haunting. This is an amazing historical drama. The story ends in a heart wrenching battle. Director Roland Joffé pulls together one of the best movie of the year.

While at college I was given the assignment of producing a 30 minute talk on the 'Guarana Republic' which is off course the subject matter of this movie. Hailing from the Protestant part of Europe I had never even heard about this aspect of Jesuit missionary work before, but as I researched the matter I became fascinated. So when I heard that a movie had been made about this topic I went to see it as soon as possible. Knowing how the film industry tended to treat historical events I was somewhat suspicious, but I was pleasantly surprised. This movie instantly became one of my all time favourites. I think the subject matter is handled sensitively and sensibly and the cinematography is stunning. What also impressed me was the clever way in which this story, which in reality spanned several generations, was compressed into a period of about ten years without becoming unbelievable. Even in a two hour movie there is a limit on what one can touch on, but I think that a good balance between dialogue, adventure, action, and character development, was struck. Even so if the movie would have lasted another hour I would still have been happy (perhaps even happier).

After hearing a quick clip from the soundtrack recently I decided to have another look at 'The Mission' which I hadn't seen for more than ten years. Interesting viewing in these days when epics abound: Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, Troy etc.

The first thing that struck me was the intelligence of the script which often seems an afterthought in today's big budget jobs. Robert Bolt weaves an intriguing web of characters; mercenary, slavetrader, starcrossed lover, papal emissary and man of faith. The passion of Robert de Niro's Mendoza beautifully contrasts the quiet firm conviction of Jeremy Irons' Gabriel. And the moral dilemma facing the Catholic Church, whether to abandon influence abroad for the sake of power at home, is ably brought to life in the tortured mind of Ray McAnally's Altamirano. This man sent from Rome by the Pope himself has the power of life and death over the Guarani Indians and the Jesuit priests who have dedicated their lives to Christian service in the deepest regions of the South American rainforest.

The film isn't perfect by any means: I would have liked better representation of at least one Guarani character but the integrity of Joffe's direction and Chris Menges' spectacular camera-work make this one film you have to see. And there's that lovely soundtrack by Ennio Morricone.

We may be more sophisticated these days in terms of technology, sound engineering and special effects but the lesson from 'The Mission' for today's directors has to be: it's the story, stupid.

I would have to say that this movie is one of the most "real" and beautiful movies that I have ever seen!! One's own life is drawn upon by watching this film.... It is hard to watch all of this movie without wanting to break down and cry... being as young as I am, I find it difficult to understand some of the things in life that happen, and why so many people and groups are treated without respect and dignity. This film helped me to understand that all god's creatures are unique and special and are EQUAL!!! The music is so strong it makes the movie so much better to watch. I think this movie would be NOTHING without the powerful music that is played throughout it... I am glad that I had the opportunity to see this film in a high level Spanish class because it taught me, about me!! What a wonderful movie!!

THE MISSION is a history drama about the expulsion of the Jesuits' missions in South America in the middle of the XVIII century. By what I've learned the plot's background is accurate to history and all we see in this movie truly happened in real life, unfortunately! The search for slavery work was continuous at the time by Portuguese colonists and the Spanish in spite of slavery not being directly allowed by their crown they also used the indigenous slaves. The Spaniards which had been creating Indian reductions since the middle of the XVI century, as a form to convert and control those indigenous people, were followed by the Portuguese, and both built Jesuit reductions in their territories. But after the 1750 treatment the Jesuits would be expulsed because they refused to leave their missions where their lived together with the indians, in peace. And the indians themselves they didn't want to abandon the reductions too because they knew that in the main jungle they would be an easy target to slave traders (known as "bandeirantes" in Portuguese colony).

So it's just the main plot's topic of this movie which then focus on the personal story of father Gabriel (played by Jeremy Irons), a Jesuit missionary, and Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert de Niro) a former slave trader which was converted to the Christian faith (and to the Jesuits) after kill his brother (because of a woman). The movie has good moments, especially in the last hour, and it describes very well the feeling of injustice and desperation those native people felt by the furious anger of the greedy imperialist armies! There're a few scenes, which focus the sad and empty native children' eyes, that worth more than a thousand words!

I enjoyed this movie and the plot's main topic which portrays a sad period of our history (unfortunately empires were always built under massacres and the subjugation of other people, and I know Portuguese empire was no exception!).