 "DeNiro & Iron's Mission" | 2008-06-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2OFSDJB3MVQ16 |
| I first saw this thought-provoking film on the big screen in 70mm and believed it to be one of the best films of the 80's. Unfortunately the film opened to disappointing business in the U.S. but did much better in Europe (It received a Golden Palm at Cannes). DeNiro and Irons each give excellent performances of 2 men caught in conflict over the problems of church vs state in the colonization of the tribes in the Americas. Many people thought this to be a religious film but it is far more than that. Rather to divulge a lot about the plot, I would rather imply that this film is a triumph in the sense that it is action filled spectacle that makes us think rather than just entertain us. It's too bad that director Roland Joffe has descended nowadays to doing a slasher film with an American actress (Elisha Cuthbert). Anyway do see this film for the direction, the stars and of course, the evocative score by Ennio Morricone who should've won the Oscar that year. |
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| "DeNiro Iron's Mission" | 2008-06-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2OFSDJB3MVQ16 |
| I first saw this thought-provoking film on the big screen in 70mm and believed it to be one of the best films of the 80's. Unfortunately the film opened to disappointing business in the U.S. but did much better in Europe (It received a Golden Palm at Cannes). DeNiro and Irons each give excellent performances of 2 men caught in conflict over the problems of church vs state in the colonization of the tribes in the Americas. Many people thought this to be a religious film but it is far more than that. Rather to divulge a lot about the plot, I would rather imply that this film is a triumph in the sense that it is action filled spectacle that makes us think rather than just entertain us. It's too bad that director Roland Joffe has descended nowadays to doing a slasher film with an American actress (Elisha Cuthbert). Anyway do see this film for the direction, the stars and of course, the evocative score by Ennio Morricone who should've won the Oscar that year. |
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| "My thoughts on The Mission" | 2008-05-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A18KAH43RGGAGJ |
| I had to watch this moving in a spanish class I took in college. I believe the movie has a powerful story of showing how the Spainards and Porgues conquored the indians of Brazil. I think it can relate to England and other European countries conquoring the new world. This moving did make me tear up at the end when they massacured tribes. |
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| "The reviewer's got it wrong!" | 2008-02-18 |
| - Reviewed By musiclitprof |
Tom Keogh's editorial review got it wrong. This is a magnificent movie. The background is historically accurate. The music, much of which was written by South American composers during the 17th century, is flawlessly performed. The story is gripping, and one comes away with an accurate picture of what was going on at the time. It's one of the best movies I've seen in many years.
It seems that not many customer reviews agree with Tom Keogh. |
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| "Bravo for "The Mission"" | 2008-02-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1WUH7XV3G2DK1 |
| I loved seeing this film again and now having it in my permanent collection. It puts light on a neglected subject - the exploitation and decimation of thousands of Indians in Latin America and the herosim of the Jesuits who tried to save them. I like the extra disk - especially the segment on how the casting of the Guarani was accomplished. De Niro and Irons are outstanding! |
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 "The Mission, Spieth, Velez, Mortensen" | 2007-12-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2M8RUDEUHR7F9 |
This movie is accurate for showing the culture of the Jesuits, for example; their lack of material possessions. The Jesuits taught a great example of repentance in the way which Mendoza took upon himself the task of carrying a bag of armor up the mountain to be forgiven and receive the privilege of being a Jesuit.
Altamirano`s way of teaching was through love. He showed that the culture and ways of the Guarani was not important to receive the message which he carried. He wasn't willing to fight against the government because they were his brothers. He had such a love for his church that he was not going to break the laws of the Jesuits and fight. He was killed as a priest, showing his faithfulness to God.
This movie portrays the misuse of government power. Governments are to serve the people. The people of the Church have to follow the counsel of the Government. In some cases it`s appropriate for church to resist the government. A great conflict in many countries, as shown in this movie, was the governments lies, and misuse of power to obtain what they wanted; control over the church.
The movie developed very slowly. It took a while to build up the characters and theme to show the plot. The themes shown in this movie were: love of man, wars between church and government, and religious protection. The actors of this film did a great job of portraying the emotions of the Jesuits, Guarani, and government officials. When the Guarani child sings you can see: the fear in the Guarani's faces, anger of governmental officials, and peacemaking of the Jesuits. A striking scene is when the Guarani mothers were forced to abandon their children.
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 "gorgeous to watch" | 2007-11-23 |
| - Reviewed By tolsen22 |
I saw this movie in the theatre when it came out, then again when the DVD first came out, then again last year. The first time I saw it I loved this movie as I did the second time. The third time I was wishing it could be edited abit more. Some scenes seemed endless. I watched it with my brother a few yrs ago and about came to blows over it. He made some very anti-Catholic remarks that hit me the wrong way. So I guess those with other eyes will each reach a different conclusion. We will be watching it soon with a friend who is an indigenous person from Bolivia. I will be very interested to see his reaction. I also watched the movie with someone from India. They knew nothing of this history.
The story is touching and to me asks the question "Is pacifism or violence the answer to evil"? And it doesn't give you the answer. The scenery is truly breathtaking.
I would recommend the movie but you probably need to be in the right mood to watch.
I really enjoyed watching the extra disc with how they made the movie. Found it as interesting as the movie. |
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| "Harrowing but magical" | 2007-10-27 |
| - Reviewed By jbonavia |
This is certainly a fine piece of movie-making...but it is not a feel-good movie. Beautiful, tragic, harrowing would be more the words. If you just read a brief description that it's about the troubles of Jesuit missionaries in South America in the 18th century, you will NOT get the idea!
First off, it may not sound very dramatic: well, that gets sorted out pretty quick at the beginning, with the launch of the crucified man to his death down the turbulent river and over the huge thundering waterfall, and then the intrepid priest struggling up sheer water-soaked rocks above a drop of hundreds of feet...And his first encounter with the painted and arrow-bearing tribe - wonderful.
But as the movie progresses, and the Jesuits build their jungle mission, and the unspeakable Don Cabeza reminds us how truly horrible colonial expansion could be, we are plunged into a maelstrom of good and evil. It's the world as we would love it to be and occasionally glimpse it, based on love and integrity, versus the world as it is...or, as the Cardinal says at the end, how we have made it. Greed and power versus simple naked humanity.. guess who wins.
Although the Jesuits are presented as the "good guys" here, there is a point where the Cardinal (I think it's him) acknowledges that the Indians would have been happier and better off if the sea and winds had not brought ANY of the white race to their shores - which is pretty much true of North America as well.
As I say, a beautiful but not cheering movie. The director's commentary is worth hearing - he actually sought out one of the few hardly-contacted tribes and involved them in this movie. Was that a good thing? who knows. An intriguing sidelight is his mention that they took some members of the tribe to London and New York. After a while the tribe said they wanted to go home. In our cities, they respected our skill with stone, but there was far too much of it: they liked their own skills with the living world, the plants and animals. Our world was oppressive.
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| "The Mission moved us deeply" | 2007-09-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: A261PBJMV9GE0S |
My wife and I saw "The Mission" when it came out in 1986. We have considered it one of the finest of movies. After going back to our second home in Brazil, we finally visited Iguaçu Falls in this, our 50th year of marriage. By now, we have studied more of the history of the Jesuits, there and in our Southwest. We have recently met several descendants of the Guarani, and read José Alencar's classic, "O GuaranÃ". Visiting Iguaçu Falls moves everyone, of all ages.
Seeing the movie again made it doubly or triply as profound. The music starts the tears of joy and appreciation; they continue throughout the film. The prolonged, scene-by-scene commentary by the director enrich the movie even more. The film presents a troubling, true story surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in this world. Where God had given us so much majesty, why did man have to stoop so low? How did the Guaranà manage to live so uprightly?
Critics of actors must like to pick, pick, pick. This film transcends the actors and directors and pickiness. |
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| "Classic" | 2007-09-14 |
| - Reviewed By amdgmcman |
| Classic, moving, theatrical, spectacle of a movie. I only wish I had a flat screen TV to watch it with. Excellent, little known movie. Doesn't get much publicity due to it's religious significance, but it is a classic non the less. |
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