Interesting but not Spectacular

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2005)

The Mission is a film that boasts, above all else, breathtaking scenery of the South American continent, including the massive Iguazu waterfalls of Argentina (near its border with Paraguay). Underneath this eye candy, however, is an unevenly directed, and straightforward, though occasionally intriguing, story, topped by somewhat tepid performances from the cast.
Based loosely off of true events, The Mission is set in the 1750s in the regions of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, when Spanish and Portuguese colonial forces were continuously seeking to expand their territories and constantly fighting one another. Wrapped up in these colonial skirmishes are the indigenous people of the region, namely the Guarani Indians. Jeremy Irons plays the Jesuit priest and missionary Father Gabriel, who with his comrades seeks to peacefully convert the natives to Christianity and teach them the finer aspects of Western Civilization. Compromising these efforts, however, are Spanish soldiers, particularly the mercenary Rodrigo Mendoza, played by Robert De Niro, who see the natives as savages and no better than animals, useful only as slaves for the Europeans and as occasional hunting targets.
Through a tragic sequence of events, however, Mendoza is convicted of murder, and in his grief attempts to seek repentance. Father Gabriel decides to take Mendoza under the wing of his Order, and the group heads back from the Spanish settlement to the missions of the Guarani. Mendoza lives among the peaceful natives and is born anew as a Jesuit priest.
The Guarani's and Jesuit's troubles are not over, however. The Portuguese are encroaching on the Guarani missions, seeking to enslave them and create profit for their overseas colonies. The Spanish and the Papacy's emissaries are unsympathetic to the Jesuits' concerns for the Guarani; the official Church, in fact, still does not really recognize the Guarani as human beings. This leaves Father Mendoza, Father Gabriel, their Jesuit compatriots, and the Guarani on their own, and a conflict arises between the Jesuits' views of nonviolence and the increasing necessity of preparing to do battle with the Portuguese, who will certainly destroy them if they do not resist.
As stated earlier, the film has a fairly straightforward story. This of course would not be a negative if the story instead chose to focus on character development, but it only provides surface level insight into the main characters played by De Niro and Irons. The Guarani have no prominent role in the film; they are entirely props, background fodder to the white leading stars. In this sense The Mission takes the same path many films about the civil rights movement do: making white characters the main protagonists and leaving the black characters as supporting voices at best, often in order to appeal to a presumably majority white audience. We learn very little about the Guarani themselves beyond the fact that they have spears and seem to readily give up their own beliefs and traditions for Christianity. What are their thoughts and feelings concerning the warring Europeans? Do they truly believe what the Jesuits are telling them, or do they sometimes have doubts? The conflicts between the Papal authorities in South America and the Jesuits are handled well. Historically the Jesuits have been the "thorn in the paw" of the Catholic Church despite their nominal allegiance to the Pope, and this is quite evident in the film. The missions are designed in a style similar to the French radicalism of the period (the film is set decades prior to the French Revolution of 1789), where the Guarani share everything in common. This socialistic style is reminiscent of the Marxist liberation theology many priests chose to take in the 20th century, including the American Daniel Berrigan, who in fact has a minor role in this film.
The film is beautifully shot and features lush cinematography; however, the battle choreography of the film's climax is somewhat ragged and unrealistic; the relative lack of character development adds to the "ho hum" feeling one gets while watching the Portuguese and the Guarani-Jesuit team fight it out on land and in kayaks.
The performances are decent though not spectacular. Robert De Niro seems occasionally uncomfortable in his role as Mendoza. Jeremy Irons does a good job as Father Gabriel and the other actors perform adequately. The dialogue, however, is such that none of the performances, except perhaps for Mr. Irons, are very memorable.
Apparently The Mission also seeks to give the audience a moral lesson about modern day transgressions against the Guarani and other indigenous people in the Americas, but this is not particularly effective and comes across as cloying and, frankly, patronizing towards the natives, who, as stated earlier, are simply props in this story.
Those with an interest in colonial South American history will find this film watchable, as will anyone who enjoys gorgeous scenery. But aside from a few memorable moments, The Mission doesn't stand out as truly brilliant cinema.