Liam Neeson Movie:

Editorial Review:
Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) directs this fuzzy effort at a David Lean-like epic without David Lean's sense of emotional proportion. Lean's most important screenwriting collaborator, Robert Bolt, in fact wrote The Mission, which concerns a Jesuit missionary (Jeremy Irons) who establishes a church in the hostile jungles of Brazil and then finds his work threatened by greed and political forces among his superiors. Robert De Niro is briefly effective as a callous soldier who kills his own brother and then turns to Irons's character to oversee his penance and conversion to the clergy. The narrative and dramatic forces at work in this movie should be more stirring and powerful than they are--the problem being that Joffé is too removed from them to allow us in. --Tom Keogh

The Mission [Region 2] Reviews:
Corruption in the palace of justice
2009-12-20 - Here is a true view of the Church and State working in disharmoney.
So corrupt are both the Church and the very catholic (christian) states of Spain and Portugal that it never occures to them to put the believes they espouse before their need for power and money. A tale (based on fact) to break your heart. There is no defence for any of the actions in this story. Again we see deeds done in God's name, and the bloody hands that result. Like WWI, a "war where God was on everyones side".

"The Mission" - two-disc special edition
2009-12-12 - Powerful film. Just as I remembered it from watching it in a theater in 1990. Amazingly accurate portrayal of Jesuits in South America and the treatment of the native peoples by the colonizers.

The Mission... If you choose to accept it... watch this movie.
2009-11-17 - The Mission: 9 out of 10: Films about faith often fail. They tend to be preachy dry affairs starring Kirk Cameron as a man who is addicted to online porn, until he finds God and smashes the evil computer with a baseball bat because apparently he has joined the Taliban or something. Most Christain films are designed simply reinforce the prejudices of a limited choir.

Critically acclaimed serious films are also often fairly dry affairs, interested more in being good rather than being entertaining. They tend to beat a visual and narrative dead horse rather than entertain for the sake of entertaining.

The Mission is a critically acclaimed movie about faith... and I loved it.

I had avoided the film for twenty years as if it was an A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It turns out to be a dynamic, action packed affair, starring Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons and a very young Liam Neelson.

It is a movie about faith. In fact, it is one of the most moving and effect movies about the purpose of faith and redemption I have ever seen. It is also about the historical pact between Spain and Portugal (Treaty of Madrid) and the war on both the natives of the jungle and the powerful Jesuits who protect them.

The movie is told in flashback with a Papal emissary (the excellent Ray McAnally) telling the tale and his tragic role in shaping it. The visuals are often simply amazing and the score by Ennio Morricone is considered one of the best of all time. Some critics felt the war scenes at the end muddled but I feel this reflects on the nature of battle and at the very least, this viewer had no trouble following it.

One side note the film contains a lot of nudity including some rather shocking child nudity. Since the film is rated PG, one must assume the ratings board used the National Geographic rules in their assessment.

There I go praising the film no doubt scaring off viewers that are afraid it will be good. It is, but it is also entertaining with great action, visuals and top notch actors.

Breathtaking! A movie to view over and over again!
2009-11-05 - A magnificent masterpiece, superb soundtrack, and a story that is truly heartbreaking. For anyone who truly loves the cinematic experience, this is the movie that is a must see. I am anxiously waiting to see this on BD.

Rare scenery
2009-08-07 - A visiting Franciscan Brother said that he saw this movie when he was a teenager and it changed his life.The scenery is breathtaking- I will never see this area with my own eyes...this was the next best thing. South American history was a lot different from North American history-I had not considered just how much. Amid the church scandals of late-sometimes I think we have to be reminded of the great acts of some good people.