A thoughtful movie

Rating: Null/10 (23 July 2003)

Previous reviewers have already noted the wonderful acting by both De Niro and Irons, phenomenal cinematography, and Morricone's beautiful score. Like many I also bought the soundtrack. I agree with all the accolades given this film and I too heartily recommend this wonderful film. The Mission is one of my favourite movies of all time and I was dumbfounded when it lost the Best Picture Academy Award honour to Platoon (a decent film admittedly but really not in the same league as The Mission). The Academy really makes me wonder sometimes, like when Shakespeare In Love beats out Saving Private Ryan.

***** Minor plot spoiler ahead *****
Although the De Niro & Irons stories are the focus of this movie, one subplot really struck me as being very profound, and because no one has mentioned it yet, I thought I'd bring it up. The Bishop who is visiting to make the decision regarding giving the Catholic Church's approval of the transfer of control of the territory to the Portuguese knows that doing so will have dire and possibly fatal consequences for the Indians. However, not to give the Church's blessing will hurt the Catholic Church in Portugal. So, he knows right from the beginning that he will end up approving this transfer of control of the land, and, given his knowledge of the consequences that will follow, he knows it is the morally wrong decision. And yet, he does it anyway. I found this very interesting - a man of God consciously making an immoral choice. Yes, I know I shouldn't be surprised by this given the problems in the Church recently (we are after all, all imperfect) , but this was an interesting subplot that struck me during the movie and stayed with me afterwards.
If you haven't seen The Mission, do yourself a favour and rent this gem. I always appreciate coming across a truly great film, given that there really is so much dreck out there. After watching this film I believe you'll be happy you didn't waste your money and cerebral cortex on some recent release that does nothing more than occupy two hours of your time and is then immediately forgotten.