the cross and the crucible

Rating: 4/10 (7 December 2010)

Religion squares off against politics in the unspoiled jungles of the New World, where Jesuit missionaries rescue heathen souls from eternal damnation before being forced to abandon them to the more civilized fate of musket and cannon fire. Robert De Niro is the Spanish mercenary and slave trader who sees the Light, wielding cross and sword with equal vigor in this visually rich but difficult and often uninvolving drama. The story itself is all but overwhelmed by the spectacular photography and my Ennio Morricone's typically overwrought music score, which at least succeeds in distracting attention away from the stiff formality of Robert Bolt's screenplay. Sincere efforts and a well-intended message ought to count for something, but the film distills complex issues into a simple slaughter of innocent women and children, with the added, condescending title reminding audiences of the continuing destruction of primitive cultures.