The Mission

[Benny]

Has anyone else seen this Palme D'Or-winning movie from 1986, which stars Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons? I'm watching it in my European History class right now, and find it very interesting. It is about a Jesuit priest who comes to South America in the 17th Century to convert Indians to Catholicism, but at the same time, the Spanish and Portuguese want to develop plantations in this area and use the Indians as slaves. If you've seen it, tell me what you think, I enjoyed it very much.

[Fergus]

Saw it two summers ago in my World Studies summer school class. Personally, I think Roland Joffe is a really good director, but this film didn't cut it for me, and I'm shocked to find out that it won the Palm D'Or. What??? The film, for me, was slowly paced, the two leads (Irons and De Niro) were underwritten, not to mention wooden. Overall, I think it suffered because of the script. It seemed very empty overall, not much to care about or to be entertained by. The end sequence could've been immensely powerful, if only I cared enough about the characters. And for some reason I thought Irons and De Niro both gave bad performances, in comparison to the other work they have done. Some beautiful images via cinematographer Joffe, but not much of a compelling story, very clumsy I think. A week following that, we saw Gandhi in class, which was much better, as opposed to this mess. Not the opinion you were looking for I suppose....

5/10

[the movie guy]

This was a good movie with great cinematography. The end battle was impressive but the movie was very slow. 7/10

[max]

I'm a big De Niro fan, but he's miscast here. His performances in this and in WE'RE NO ANGELS are two of my least favorite. He plays a more convincing priest in TRUE CONFESSIONS and SLEEPERS. But THE MISSION has its moments of grandeur and manages to gain some power by the end. Still worth seeing just for the cinematography and Ennio Morricone's lush, haunting score.

[paul calf]

i disagree i thought this was a great film,brillient direction,great cinematography,and very good performances from de niro, jerremy irons,liam neeson.and aiden quinn.and it also boasts a great score from ennio morronne

[Jasonite]

I liked this movie pretty well...DeNiro gives a very different kind of performance, which I like, but Jeremy Irons' performance should've gotten him nominated, it was fantastic. It was also written by the dude that wrote Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Man for All Seasons, and Gandhi...though a better director could've brought out the strengths of the script a little more powerfully, I still think it's something pretty special.


J

[David Fincher]

The Mission ? Yeah, I saw it last year during history class (our teacher liked them movies!). I thought it was slow, but some of the stuff I saw I liked (not the naked indians!). It was okay, I guess.

6/10

BTW, the film did beat classwork! ;)

[Benny]

I'd give it an 8/10 overall, mainly because I thought DeNiro and Irons gave two very strong underrated performances (DeNiro especially in a very against-type role). Also, the film's musical score and cinematography were wonderful. Finally, this movie could have easily ran 3 hours or longer and been a total bore, but by leaving the length at only 2 hours, it wasn't turned into a huge, overdone "epic" a la Dances With Wolves and turned out to be a much better movie than the latter.

[Paterfamilias]

Man, I loved this movie. Sure it's not action packed but it's a great story. One of my favorite scenes is when DeNiro is doing his penance climbing up that hill with all his armor. Then he gets to the top and the guy cuts it off and frees him of it. That's got to be one of the best visual representations of forgiveness and redeption ever captured on film. Very moving.

[Tuukka]

This film was remarkably powerful. Great script, great directing, great performances, great cinemography, great music. When you add a grand emotional core of the film to those things you get a masterpiece.

9/10.

[max]

I'd give it an 8/10 overall, mainly because I thought DeNiro and Irons gave two very strong underrated performances (DeNiro especially in a very against-type role).

Like I said, he was a more convincing priest in TRUE CONFESSIONS and SLEEPERS. In THE MISSION, he seems too modern for the part. It doesn't help that aside from him and Aidan Quinn, everyone else speaks in a British accent. I don't know. For some reason, I always expect a period piece to be spoken in a British accent. But what bothered me more was Robert Bolt's stilted script and the film's all-too-obvious message. Still, it has so much to recommend it, most especially the breathtaking scenery and the haunting score.

[CheekyShepherd]

I found The Mission to be a very slow moving, yet a grandiose religious epic, boasting excellent cinematography & a haunting Morricone score.

Irons & DeNiro I find are miscast in this film. Juicier performance come from supporting players such as Ray McAnally as Altamirano.

Joffe's direction is very focused, but he falters during a botched battle scene in the finale. His work on The Killing Fields was more punishingly focused.

My rating for The Mission (6.5/10)