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The Mission [1986]
starring: Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi
directed by: Roland Joffé

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days Audience Rating: Parental Guidance
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 5014781163927
Format: HiFi Sound, PAL
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: July 07, 1993
Running Time: 120 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 31, 1986
Sales Rank: 4017

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) directs this fuzzy effort at a David Lean-like epic without David Lean's sense of emotional proportion. Lean's most important screenwriting collaborator, Robert Bolt, in fact wrote The Mission, which concerns a Jesuit missionary (Jeremy Irons) who establishes a church in the hostile jungles of Brazil and then finds his work threatened by greed and political forces among his superiors. Robert De Niro is briefly effective as a callous soldier who kills his own brother and then turns to Irons's character to oversee his penance and conversion to the clergy. The narrative and dramatic forces at work in this movie should be more stirring and powerful than they are--the problem being that Joffé is too removed from them to allow us in. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.co.uk Review:
The Mission is director Roland Joffé's fuzzy effort at an epic in David Lean style without David Lean's sense of emotional proportion. In fact, Lean's most important screenwriting collaborator, Robert Bolt, wrote The Mission, which concerns a Jesuit missionary (Jeremy Irons) who establishes a church in the hostile jungles of Brazil and then finds his work threatened by greed and political forces among his superiors.

Robert De Niro is briefly effective as a callous soldier who kills his own brother and then turns to Irons's character to oversee his penance and conversion to the clergy. The narrative and dramatic forces at work in this movie should be more stirring and powerful than they are, the problem being that Joffé is too removed from them to allow us in. By way of compensation, Ennio Morricone contributes one of his most evocative and admired music scores. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis:
Two men, one of the sword and one of the cloth, join together to brave missionaries of the Jesuit order and risk everything against the colonial forces of the two empires of Spain and Portugal to save the lives of an endangered Indian tribe in mid-18th Century South America.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Stunning
This is a true story and it is a very sad one in the history of the west and of the church.
Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson and many more take us through the history of slavers in South America. Irons, who plays a Spanish Jesuit Priest, goes into the wilderness to build a mission, to convert the Indians. DeNiro plays a slaver who eventually joins Irons' mission and serves the native peoples.

The main question in this film is that of ownership, and the right to make slaves. The mission begins in Spanish territory that is sold to the Portuguese. The Portuguese do not want to accept that the natives are humans - but at best trained monkeys - and that their Christianity does not protect them from becoming slaves. The ... Read More:

Rating:

- what happens if "God changes his mind"
Winner of the Palme D'or in 1986 at Cannes, "The Mission" is a feast to the eyes, as well as to the souls. Shot in exotic and spectacular backdrops of Colombia and Brazil, the film explores the power struggles and duality of Spanish and Portuguese presence in South America, depicts the violent clash of cultures, and the subjugation and eventual genocide of a tribe of Paraguayan indians known as the Guarani in the 1750s.

Seemingly "The Mission" appears to be a poignant movie about the harsh brutality of European imperialists toward primitive indians in an exotic locale. But the film is full of social didactic commentary, capturing the eternal struggle between greed & faith and power & honor. Without their consent, bringing ... Read More:

Rating:

- Powerful and emotional
A true story and a powerful on at that.
Read the other reviews for plot synopsis, I can't say anything others haven't already. The screenply is magnificent, the direction perfect, the cinematography second to none, the acting the best ever with truly powerful performances from Deniro and Irons while the music by Morricone is truly haunting (get the soundtrack as well).
This is a must have for any film collector and one I shall return to again and again. I cannot recommend this film more highly.

Rating:

- Heartfelt but unmoving and slightly disappointing
One of a trio of big-budget films that was intended to turn Goldcrest into a major producer after a run of successful (mostly) low-budget films but which instead all but destroyed the company, The Mission isn't as irredeemably disastrous as Revolution or as over-reaching as Absolute Beginners, but it's still a disappointment despite its many admirable qualities. Screenwriter Robert Bolt has an interesting, if obscure story to tell in the violent closure of the 18th Century Jesuit missions in Paraguay as part of a territorial wrangle between Spain and Portugal, with the Vatican going along with genocide to avoid political repercussions in Europe while the priests in the missions try to protect their native Guarani converts from the slave traders ... Read More:

Rating:

- Majestical Piece of Cinema
This has to be rated as one of the all time classic epics, but don't expect a Tom Cruise 'Mission Impossible' type action drama.
This is a fully loaded dramatical piece converging the best talents of Jeremy Irons, Robert De Niro and a young Liam Neeson.
It covers the persecution of the South American Indian tribes at a time of the Spanish Inquistion. With dramatic scenery and emotionly charged scenes, backed with one of the all time great modern classical sound tracks.

This is a must buy for anyone wanting to see a piece of cinematic history.

VHS : The Mission [1986]