A Missão

This film is the finest expressions of the neglect or opposition of the spiritual in favour of political expediency I have ever seen.

The other comments for this film eloquently, or at least enthusiastically, extoll it's virtues and I can only rephrase what they have said...

Suffice to say that the Mission remains one of my favourite films. I saw it many years ago and my only regret is that I did not see it in the cinema. Regardless, the impression it made upon me has been indelible. As an artist, I only hope that I can create something that touches or moves my audience in such a way.

A wonderful film that, ever so briefly, absolves Hollywood of its sins.

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!!

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).

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!).

I had the good fortune to see The Mission on the big screen in 1986 when it was first released. I went into the theater knowing only the title, the two lead actors, and that it had something to do with South America. Two hours later I was a puddle of tears, both from the subject matter and from the knowledge that I had just witnessed a cinematic masterpiece. It is perhaps the most intelligently spiritual film I've ever seen. The cinematography is gorgeous throughout, the settings are stunning, the acting is top-notch across the board, the musical score is breathtaking, and the screenplay is brilliantly eloquent. Roland Joffé did a fantastic job directing The Killing Fields, but this one is even better. I just watched it again on DVD, and nearly 25 years later, the film has not aged or lost any of its power. Still one of the greatest and most underrated films of all time.