Another fine film from Roland Joffe

Rating: Null/10 (16 October 1999)

The Mission was a well written, well produced movie with terrific actors and authentic scenery. It should've won the oscar for best picture, for it was far better than Platoon. And I can't believe that Jeremy Irons didn't win an oscar here either. Oh well. Robert De Niro was great as captain mendoza, but he was unable to shake his new york accent (despite playing a spaniard). The cultural imperialism theme was adequately conveyed, without the hysterical opinionated frenzy of most other similarly toned stories. After all, the opening scene shows a nonviolent Jesuit crucified and floated over a waterfall by the natives he sought to help (though also convert). The lessons and irony of the story were also perfectly placed: the natives are shown to be victims, but was it their lack of savagery or technology that caused this? Of course the disturbing climax of the film was somewhat comforted by the ending, which briefly shows the children trying to rebuild their future. And Ennio Morricone's fantastic musical score was the highlight of the film, and a perfect complement to its rich south american locales.