The Mission

DVD Release Date: May 13, 2003
Studio: Warner Home Video
Director: Roland Joffé
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Aidan Quinn
Genre: Historical Drama
MPAA Rating: PG

Plot Summary: Rodrigo Mendoza (ROBERT DE NIRO) was a violent soldier-for-hire in 1750s South America. Now he is a man of peace serving the Rain Forest Indians he once enslaved. But armies of Spain and Portugal threaten the lifestyle and safety of the native peoples. Now Rodrigo may have to pick up his sword and musket once again. From the producer of Chariots of Fire and the director of The Killing Fields comes a powerful epic co-starring JEREMY IRONS and graced with dazzling Academy Award-winning cinematography, set to a memorable music score and scripted by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of A Man for All Seasons and Doctor Zhivago

Reviewed by Peter Veugelaers © 2005
- Who said they don't make 'em like they used to?

This 1986 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner, and winner of Best Cinematography at 1987s Academy Awards, is still a rewarding experience which holds well on the small screen, the sharp and picturesque quality of the cinematography by Chris Menges (of South American jungle and waterfalls) makes perhaps an even better transition from the big screen to DVD, not counting the size factor.

 The Mission DVD is more about the movie than the extras, which are a meagre, albeit attractively packaged, collage of stills from the movie and its production. The movie more than compensates for limited special features though and the oldness of the film is the reason for three short featurerettes, which are layered with the divine Enno Morricone score.   

The Mission is a moving, poignant and relevant exploration of politics and power during the 1700s in South America where the native Guarani Indians are caught in the middle of Portuguese and Spanish jostling for territory. Jesuit priests are introducing the Guarani to Christianity. The Pope’s emissary (a strong and subtle performance by Ray Macanally) is sent to the Jesuit mission to decide whether the Indians will be transferred from the mission to Portuguese territory where the threat of slavery might continue. But a dilemma is posed: under the missionary zeal of the Jesuits, including Jeremy Iron’s Father Gabriel, the Indians encounter God, but the Pope’s emissary who says the instrument of God is the church, finds that very instrument caught in a compromising web of faith and power politics, and the movie powerfully argues against the two ever mixing.

The climax is ironic and pointless, but the film is saying that the faith, hope and love of the priests will endure in spite of the failings of the establishment. The end credits note the contemporary significance of this movie. It conveys its cause with sweep and grandeur and Director Roland Joffe, under the guidance of producer David Puttnam, whose The Killing Fields and Chariots of Fire dealt with similar humane themes, seamlessly and meaningfully crafts his artistry and cause from a literate and thorough Robert Bolt script.