The Mission Reviews

A classic film

Why did this film not win instant fame? Look at the ingredients. Millions of dollars invested. A galaxy of stars, including De Niro, Leeson, MacNally and many more. First division producers and technicians in Lord Puttnam and others. A musical score by Morricone which he regarded as his finest cinematic achievement. UN world heritage scenery. A serious story. So what went wrong? Not the movie. It is cinema of the highest order. Perhaps, because the movie used a true historical incident to illustrate that the Catholic Church places its own survival above all all other values, including abhorrence of slavery, and does so knowingly (see Ray Macnally's final speech). Was the film seen by too many as an uncomfortable parallel with the Church's role concerning Hitler fascism and the holocaust - even today a no-go area for movie makers. See 'Mission' and make up you own mind.

Recommended

A slow story that feature a beautiful sound track & location which almost make up for the speed of the film.

Not for everyone but still recommended.

Not as good as I remembered

Visuals - still beautiful. Music - still as haunting and atmospheric as any Morricone has done. However, since I watched it last (when first released), one of it's three dimensions seems to have gone missing. The characterisation (and therefore the extent to which you care about characters fates) appears very shallow 20 years on. I don't think Cannes would be as impressed now as it was then - I certainly wasn't. Worth a watch simply for the the two or three standout scenes, but Irons and De Niro have both done much better (and with better scripts).

Robust characters

Slightly slow to start but the germination of the story is worth the wait. Excellent acting, robust characters and exciting scenery. Not one for those in a weepy mood but certainly a powerful film worth watching.

Good enough

As with many classics, you probably needed to watch this when it first came out. However, the legend has grown and as such the dilm turns out to be disapointing. Good acting, especially from Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson, but very slow. What is does do well is highlight some of the cruelty that has been at the centre of empire building. This is a film, not a movie. You will need to engage the brain.

Passion, Revenge, Love, Repentance supported by Excellent Visuals and Beautiful Music

This is one of my favourite movies of all time. I have watched it at least 7 times and get more from it each time. The cast is excellent, convincing and mesmorising. The visuals are a feast for the eyes as is the music for the ears. The story captured my mind and heart.

Based on historical truth the story captures competing, powerful men's desires - the Portuguese, the Spanish, the church in Rome and Jesuit priests on the ground. Each successful in what they do, each yielding influence but they are brought together in a power struggle of who is the most influencial and most importantly what is the right thing to do in this struggle for the same piece of land and it's inhabitants. I found it eye opening as nothing has changed in todays world. Every choice comes with a cost.

*** This section has a small part of the story but I would not consider it a spoiler, if you particularly don't want to know any outcomes regardless how small, stop reading***

Besides finding the story fascinating, I also find the smaller stories supporting the overall story captivating e.g. the slave trader who's power, anger and betrayal has just cost him dearly and is unable to forgive himself and how the people he has stolen from and killed over many years are able to forgive him first!! So humbling! He chooses such self inflicting punishment in his remorse that even when the Jesuits can no longer take it, he refuses to stop and picks up 'his cross' again because he has not forgiven himself.

If you enjoyed the movie the first time, I recommend you watch it 2 or 3 times to get the full impact.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Absolutlely Brilliant

One of the best movies of all time.Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson and Robert DeNiro gave excellent performance in this story based on fact.A very very upsetting film about how barbaric we 'Whites' where to the south american indians.

Magnificent soundtrack.

Brilliant!

Just an amazing film. Amazing sets, (please keep away tourists), remarkable acting and the use of such natural native people - well - just wonderful. I hope though they are not too affected by the 'fun' of seeing another world, our tired one, rather than their own! As sensitively filmed as possible to entertain our sophisticated society?

I have watched it before, and will again and again, a must have for lovers of history and cynics of organized religion!?

[Highly rated reviewer]

Neglected masterpiece

Where on earth has this film been hiding?? In my opinion it's a masterpiece of story, acting and direction, and it deserves to have become one of the 'household names' in 20th century film. (And on a system where 5 stars is 'great film, I'd watch it again', this deserves about 7 or 8 stars). But I notice that even though it was made in 1986, this film has only been reviewed by a few dozen people, in contrast to the hundreds of people who review each Hollywood churn-out piece.

The opening credits announce that this is a true story. The screenplay, by Robert Bolt, re-tells that story admirably. Jeremy Irons is convincing as the young, dedicated Jesuit who wins over the confidence of the Indians. And I'd guess that Robert de Niro loved his role as Rodrigo, the tough guy (but so different from de Niro's usual street-wise U.S. tough guys!) who starts out as slaver and villain, but ends up as a very different character indeed. Ray McAnally does an excellent supporting job as the Cardinal, portraying him as a basically good man who is caught up in others' political trickery.

Top marks also to director Roland Joffe' for his courage in shooting the film in an authentic jungle location, and for his remarkable decision to seek out a tribe of real, genuinely unspoiled South American Indians to feature in the cast of his film. And he did find them, the Waunana people, as fine a lot of men and women as you ever saw - 'acting themselves' in a way that fake 'Indians' could never have equalled.

All this adds up to an all-time classic, must-see film, that is riveting from its start to its cataclysmic ending. I hope this movie eventually gets the fame it deserves.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Hasn't aged well

22 years haven't been kind to Joffe's beautiful but incredibly dull movie. Great photography, memorable Morricone score, but who cares, really? Jeremy Irons plays a saintly jesuit priest, De Niro plays a dumb one, and only Ray MacAnnaly plays with any intelligence or subtlety, and he's not in many scenes. Perhaps you have to be a god-botherer to get it. Try Herzog's monumental Aguirre Zorn Gottes and Fitzcarraldo instead - same environment, same beautiful filming, but real exploration of the human condition instead of hagiography.