The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition) | Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons

The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition) | Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons | Wonderful!

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The Mission (Two-D...

	The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition) Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons Warner Home Video, 2003 average customer review:based on 217 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Mission moved us deeply

My wife and I saw "The Mission" when it came out in 1986. We have considered it one of the finest of movies. After going back to our second home in Brazil, we finally visited Iguaçu Falls in this, our 50th year of marriage. By now, we have studied more of the history of the Jesuits, there and in our Southwest. We have recently met several descendants of the Guarani, and read José Alencar's classic, "O Guaraní". Visiting Iguaçu Falls moves everyone, of all ages.
Seeing the movie again made it doubly or triply as profound. The music starts the tears of joy and appreciation; they continue throughout the film. The prolonged, scene-by-scene commentary by the director enrich the movie even more. The film presents a troubling, true story surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in this world. Where God had given us so much majesty, why did man have to stoop so low? How did the Guaraní manage to live so uprightly?
Critics of actors must like to pick, pick, pick. This film transcends the actors and directors and pickiness.

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Wonderful!

This is the third time I have purchased this movie. I love it! The music is wonderful too!

Classic

Classic, moving, theatrical, spectacle of a movie. I only wish I had a flat screen TV to watch it with. Excellent, little known movie. Doesn't get much publicity due to it's religious significance, but it is a classic non the less.

Beautiful soul searching movie

This is such a wonderful movie. It broke my heart, yet lifted my spirit also. It shows the gentle and hard side of humans. The background information is wonderful and eye opening. By listening to the commentary and the second DVD you will get so much more out of the movie. The soundtrack is unforgettable and a must to own also.

This movie should be a must for families to view together. It opens up conversations that should be opened.

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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 simply waiting for the Church to withdraw its protection. Robert Bolt's screenplay is strong, thanks to Chris Menges' cinematography the film looks superb and Ennio Morricone's score is one of his best. Yet the film feels as if something is missing, possibly because it is: the work-in-progress version that won the Palme D'Or at Cannes was reputedly nearly twice as long. What's left tells the story and makes its points, but doesn't really touch the heart or carry you along with more than academic interest. But perhaps worst of all, there's a gaping hole where the heart of The Mission should be in the form of Robert De Niro.

He looks the part, learnt fencing, speaks Spanish, yet for all that it's a hollow shell of a performance hiding behind underplayed surface detail. On paper his character is easily the film's most interesting, going from slave-trader to Jesuit missionary only to find himself at odds with his vows when he needs to protect those he used to prey on with force, but De Niro brings nothing to the part in a passive, detached and unemotional performance. His crisis of conscience and road to possible redemption seems no more torturous that trying to decide what to order from a disappointing restaurant menu. Very much a supporting role, if it weren't for his reputation you'd have no idea he's supposed to be the great actor of his generation.

By contrast, Jeremy Irons, often a stuffy and mechanical performer, is something of a revelation here, taking the part to heart and abandoning all artifice to give a performance that draws its strength from its genuine humility and humanity. But the film's best performance comes from Ray McAnally as the Papal representative sent ostensibly to judge the matter but in reality to provide a fig leaf for the Church abandoning its converts only to find himself all too aware of the immorality of his actions and tormented by his inability to rebel against them. It's a subtle portrait but a powerful one, and puts a genuinely human face on the film's clash between the ideals of faith and the realities of the way of the world. In many ways it's almost a pity that the film keeps him on the sidelines. (Incidentally, one of the actors playing one of the Jesuit missionaries, Daniel Berrigan, was himself a Jesuit missionary who had been threatened with excommunication, while the Portuguese villain of the piece is played by De Niro's real estate broker!)

The 2-disc DVD comes with an excellent one hour documentary about the making of the film from the days when they weren't studio-sanctioned love-ins. Concentrating on the impact on the Waunana extras, much emphasis is placed on the possibly devastating cultural effects their involvement could have, only to be somewhat torpedoed by the telling detail at the end of the program that the entire tribe received only £85,000 for a month-and-a-half's work - apparently rather less than the fencing instructor De Niro insisted be flown in to the location to teach him got if producer David Puttnam's memoirs are to be believed (De Niro fences for a grand total of 30 seconds in the film).

Also included are an audio commentary by Joffe and the full theatrical trailer.

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