The Mission (A or 4/4 stars)
Featuring Oscar-winning cinematography & a majestic musical score from Ennio Morricone, Roland Joffe's 'The Mission' chronicles the events surrounding the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, when Spain gave part of South America to Portugal. The action begins as 2 great colonial forces are competing to be in the native Indians' good favor. On one hand, there are imperialist plunderers who want to establish slaves & trade from the New World. On the other, there are missionaries, who want to convert said Indians to Christianity & save their souls. A major figure in this film is Mendoza (Robert DeNiro), who begins as the 1st kind of imperialist & ends as the 2nd. Early in the story, he IS a slave trader. But after he kills his brother Felipe (Aidan Quinn) in a fit of jealous rage, he yearns for redemption & gets it from the missionaries who assign him a tumultuous penance - he must climb a cliff near a steep waterfall, dragging weights behind him.
Over & over, Mendoza attempts to scale the cliff, until finally all of the torture & sin is drained from him & he becomes a devout missionary at a Jesuit settlement run by a man named Gabriel (Jeremy Irons). From here, the film develops its story through the device of letters which explain what happened to the settlement. The missionaries dream of a society where Christian natives live in harmony with the Spanish/Portuguese. But the colonial governors think that sentiment is dangerous; they'd rather enslave the natives than convert them & they issue orders for the mission to be destroyed! Gabriel & Mendoza disagree on how to deal with this threat: Gabriel believes in the power of prayer & passive resistance, & Mendoza believes in armed rebellion. The rest of the film chronicles the Spanish Jesuits trying to protect the remote Indian tribe in danger of falling prey to the rule of pro-slavery Portugal. Craziness ensues.
Jeremy Irons is superb as the peaceful Gabriel. They way with which he speaks, the brooding nature ... I enjoyed this low-key, thoughtful portrayal. And I was in awe at his physical performance, as well; scaling rocks & heights with ease. Robert DeNiro also impressed me in a role that's very atypical of his normal type of performance; he's more introverted, here. Also impressing me was British veteran Ray McAnally, who plays Cardinal Altamirano (the Pope's representative in South America), & turns him into a shockingly sympathetic man. You know, none of the major characters are particularly compelling, personality-wise; each man is defined by particular traits or beliefs. But what's important in this movie is the bigger picture, so to speak.
'The Mission' touches on the dark & light inside everybody. It shows the varying levels & complexions of humanity (love, grace, violence). All doesn't end well; with great amounts of death & despair. But the film is more about 'ideas' & about the spiritual/moral journey that these men go on. Missionaries fall by the wayside; as do the native Indians. The film offers no easy answers to the questions it poses. You know, I watched this lengthy movie in a trance. It's absolutely gorgeous (with Oscar-winning cinematography). The jungle locations are spectacular (I'm reminded of the opening image of a crucified missionary floating down the waterfall). The period details are impeccable. And the mysterious atmosphere (of the film's narrative) seeps into us; giving the proceedings a mercurial mysticism that I couldn't shake for hours after having seen it. 'The Mission' is one of the most ethereal, yet ambitious films that I've seen a long while. Great film.
Over & over, Mendoza attempts to scale the cliff, until finally all of the torture & sin is drained from him & he becomes a devout missionary at a Jesuit settlement run by a man named Gabriel (Jeremy Irons). From here, the film develops its story through the device of letters which explain what happened to the settlement. The missionaries dream of a society where Christian natives live in harmony with the Spanish/Portuguese. But the colonial governors think that sentiment is dangerous; they'd rather enslave the natives than convert them & they issue orders for the mission to be destroyed! Gabriel & Mendoza disagree on how to deal with this threat: Gabriel believes in the power of prayer & passive resistance, & Mendoza believes in armed rebellion. The rest of the film chronicles the Spanish Jesuits trying to protect the remote Indian tribe in danger of falling prey to the rule of pro-slavery Portugal. Craziness ensues.
Jeremy Irons is superb as the peaceful Gabriel. They way with which he speaks, the brooding nature ... I enjoyed this low-key, thoughtful portrayal. And I was in awe at his physical performance, as well; scaling rocks & heights with ease. Robert DeNiro also impressed me in a role that's very atypical of his normal type of performance; he's more introverted, here. Also impressing me was British veteran Ray McAnally, who plays Cardinal Altamirano (the Pope's representative in South America), & turns him into a shockingly sympathetic man. You know, none of the major characters are particularly compelling, personality-wise; each man is defined by particular traits or beliefs. But what's important in this movie is the bigger picture, so to speak.
'The Mission' touches on the dark & light inside everybody. It shows the varying levels & complexions of humanity (love, grace, violence). All doesn't end well; with great amounts of death & despair. But the film is more about 'ideas' & about the spiritual/moral journey that these men go on. Missionaries fall by the wayside; as do the native Indians. The film offers no easy answers to the questions it poses. You know, I watched this lengthy movie in a trance. It's absolutely gorgeous (with Oscar-winning cinematography). The jungle locations are spectacular (I'm reminded of the opening image of a crucified missionary floating down the waterfall). The period details are impeccable. And the mysterious atmosphere (of the film's narrative) seeps into us; giving the proceedings a mercurial mysticism that I couldn't shake for hours after having seen it. 'The Mission' is one of the most ethereal, yet ambitious films that I've seen a long while. Great film.