Utterly beautiful, fantastic movie!

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2006)

The story is based on the divide of Latin-America by Spain and Portugal in 18th Century. For the Roman Catholic church, it meant that Jesuits had to go as part of the deal to allow the church to stay present in Portuguese territory. The Jesuit order had, by then, grown into a strong and powerful order which threatened commercial relations between countries by preventing slavery in their Missions. This movie then takes on some fictional characters to illustrate the struggle faced by the Jesuits and the Church, the Guaranis, and the difficult relations with Spain and Portugal. Great acting by all, and beautiful, haunting, scenery (the Iguacu falls in Venezuela) and a good basis for a strong scenario makes this movie an all time favourite of mine. A definite must for everyone's DVD collection (the double-DVD set is best). A classic!