Shame That The Oscars Overlooked The Actors In This 1980's Classic

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2019)

In the 1980's, it was regarded as the most creative moment in the history of film-making in Hollywood at a time when remakes, reboots and lazy acts of recycling old stories and rehashing them as original content was virtually less commonplace than what's given to us in today's movie market. It was a time where new stories and fresh content was given to its audience and the film industry truly cared about its audience and not wasn't just making movies to leak in the money that we see nowadays. What we see in the movie industry is far cry to the care of the craftsmanship that was truly what made films of the 1980's all the more welcoming in our society.
In 1986, under the director who gave us 'The Killing Fields", Roland Joffe brings us "The Mission" which was nominated for seven Academy Awards including a well deserved win for the Best Cinematography Award by Chris Menges, teels the tale of 18th century Spanish Jesuit priests make it their mission to convert the Guarani Natives in South America, while the Portuguese settlers want to make the Guarani's their slaves. Well-intended Jesuit priest Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) peacefully makes its his mission to persuade the Natives to the Catholic faith. One such recruiter is a rebellious ex slave owner and mercenary named Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) who's seeking redemption after committing to the murder of own brother Felipe (Aidan Quinn) over jealousy and by becoming a vigilante to the Natives after they forgave him for his evil ways in the past. He eventually joins the priesthood under the tutoring of Father Gabriel.
Everything runs smoothly at first until both the Spanish and Portuguese governments intervene making a standpoint at which continents they want to make their own and what was at once a Spanish colonization has now been governed and taken over by the Portuguese which is the more of two evils for the Guarani because they'll more likely be used as slaves. This is where Cardinal Altamirano (Ray McAnnally) comes in as a Papal emissary who's there to figure out whether the Vatican will go with the mission or sell the Natives to the Portuguese for slavery.
When I first saw it, I thought to myself the shooting locations must've hit some rough patches being that the locations were surrounded by rivers, deep forestry, and all the beauty that comes from the Amazon jungles of South America. In spite of the outer beauty, the outdoor filming can be very unpredictable and can be dangerous. But hats off to cinematographer Chris Menges for keeping the background beautiful and the setting very authentic. This is a well earned Oscar win for Menges.
One can also not ignore the wonderful soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. And while the soundtrack is beautiful in its delivery and has been praised by critics, I felt there were times when the score didn't fit well in some scenes in the movie. Like in the opening act, the soundtrack felt like the music would've been more suited for a thriller genre than a period piece drama. And while the music is something we could easily hum to, there are just some awkward moments where the music doesn't quite match to the emotions of certain scenes. In fact the score is so over-the-top, it awkwardly feels like a soundtrack you could hear in the cartoons. But the more tender scenes fortunately, feature more nuanced tones that one could mesmerized to.
It was quite sad that the Academy Awards overlooked the performances by the cast, because each of the performers brought something to the table. Irons shows great subtlety as Father Gabriel, who feels that his mission to convert the Natives to Christianity should be handled peacefully and not for them to break their traditional ways. Likewise, Robert De Niro is wonderful as the redemptive but hot-headed Mendoza. Aside from his rebellious demeanour, De Niro also plays a very physically straining performance as during his quest for redemption, he has the complex task of walking among the muddy trails while being attached to heavy metal. Of the actors performed here, there was one who got some recognition come award season. Ray McAnnally did go on to win the Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA awards for his role as the self-conflicted but very subtle Cardinal Altamirano.