The greatest movie about the three universal languages of the soul: faith, love and music...

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2012)

Goethe said: "Religious worship cannot do without music. It is one of the foremost means to work upon man with an effect of marvel."
I don't think there is a more eloquent movie moment to illustrate that statement than the scene from Roland Joffé's "The Mission" where the Guarani Indians find Father Gabriel (Jermeny Irons) in their territory.
The previous Jesuit priest who tried to convert them ended up tied in a cross and sent to his death in the vertiginous Iguazu falls, probably the film's most spectacular and defining shot. Father Gabriel traveled to the same falls, to pursue the quest of his ill-fated predecessor. He won the hearts of the Indians through the simple use of an oboe. The Guarani, captivated by the music, couldn't believe that an instrument capable of such a divine sound would bring a bad omen for the tribe. The Guarani didn't speak Spanish, Father Gabriel didn't speak their language yet, but what are words except the language of the mind, and how useless can they be when music, the language of the soul, can be understood with no need for translations.
"The Mission", Golden Palm winner of 1987 relates the epic South-American journey of the Jesuits in the middle of the 18th century. And much more, it's served by one of the most beautiful scores ever written from Ennio Morricone, which conveys the transcendental aspect of music as a universal language, a key for people's souls. It's true that, by depicting the martyrdom of the priests who fought for the indigenous people's right, the film can be perceived as a celebration of religion. But religion comes from 'relegere', which in Latin means 'uniting': uniting people under a same faith, even nobler because it relies on values such as love, equality and justice. It's significant that Father Gabriel doesn't convert only the Indians but also a mercenary and slaver named Mendoza (Robert De Niro) who thought himself beyond any redemption, after having killed his brother in a duel.
Mendoza follows Gabriel to the Christian sanctuary, along with Father Fiedling (Liam Neeson). He pulls a heavy bundle containing his armor and sword, what's left from his previous life, and after crossing the falls and getting to the Guarani territory, Mendoza finally measures the accomplishment and finds himself among brothers. He bursts out crying, and his tears strangely mix up with the kind of smile only De Niro could make communicative and poignant in the same time. Mendoza takes vow and becomes a priest, trading his sword to a Bible. If one thing, "The Mission" is a hymn to universal brotherhood, and only our in our faithless era, one could take it as pro-religion film. How can it be pro-religion, when the same Guarani will end up massacred by the slavers who believed in profit, today's very religion?
"The Mission" is set during that specific time where Catholicism became the scapegoat of all the European revolutions, where the same people who justified racism or slavery blamed everything on the Church. The Guarani sanctuary would be left to the Portuguese disposal after a territory transfer and a Papal emissary, Cardinal Altamirano (Ray McAnally) a former Jesuit himself, was sent to examine the situation. Although he's amazed by the success of the Jesuit Mission, he is confronted to a dilemma: if he yields to the Spanish plantation owner Cabezo (Chuck Low), one of Mendoza's collaborators who doesn't even believe that Indians are human beings, there's no doubt that the whole tribe will be enslaved. If not, he'll create one terrible schism within the Catholic Church, as the Jesuits would have dared to interfere with the Portuguese interests , represented by Don Hortar (Ronald Pickup).
The choice is obvious and so is its bloody aftermath, no one could have expected anything from Hortar or Cabezo, when the pure voice of a little Indian singing had not effect on them, even inspiring an abject comparison to savant parrots. Mendoza dealt with them, and reconsiders his Jesuit vow when he understands that only the language of weapons can fit the men, whose souls cannot be touched by the divine grace. And whether the fight is already lost doesn't matter, they all obey to a mightier authority than plantation owners or politicians. When Altamirano tries to reason Gabriel so he can reason the Indians, the Guarani leader questions his authority, isn't he representing God, and how can even God be a matter of reasoning. Only God can know where the truth lies, religion is not a democracy but at least everyone's equal under God.
Naturally, the marching civilization annihilates the Guarani, just like the Conquest of the West destroyed the Natives, and like many countries, till now, use the content of their civilizations to justify the fight against religious obscurantism in the name of modernity, while maybe religion is still trying to protect some of the best of Human civilization. As the film concludes." The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Faith, like music, speaks for something hidden in the soul that no one can't reach, the belief in people's inner goodness, that no one is beyond any redemption, that's what Catholicism is about, and I'm not even Catholic, but within my own religion, I can respond to a film like "The Mission", and that's what Ennio Morricone's music accomplishes and what makes it one of the greatest score ever made. It's too magical for words and too divine to belong to one religion.
And it's so close to Heavenly perfection that any flaw, right or wrong, which a critic would find, on the editing, the storytelling or the directing, is immediately redeemed. I wouldn't believe a film capable to transport my soul with such a mesmerizing music would have anything to be criticized. I guess my reaction was similar to the Indians when they listened to the sound of Gabriel's oboe