The Mission is a 1986 British historical drama film directed by Roland Joffé, from a screenplay by Robert Bolt. It stars Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons, with Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi and Liam Neeson in supporting roles. It is about the experiences of a Jesuit missionary in 18th-century South America. The film is partly based on Paraguayan saint Roque González y de Santa Cruz

  • Monirak Sisowath as Ibaye
  • Liam Neeson as Father John Fielding
  • Bercelio Moya as Native Boy
  • Sigifredo Ismare as Witch Doctor
  • Asuncion Ontiveros as Native Chief
  • Alejandrino Moya as Chief's Lieutenant
  • Daniel Berrigan as Sebastian
  • Rolf Gray as Father Ralph
  • Álvaro Guerrero as Jesuit

Historical basis

The Mission is based on events surrounding the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, in which Spain ceded part of Jesuit Paraguay to Portugal. A significant subtext is the impending suppression of the Jesuits, of which Father Gabriel, who is a Jesuit, is warned by the film's narrator, Cardinal Altamirano. Altamirano, speaking in hindsight in 1758, corresponds to the actual Andalusian Jesuit Father Luis Altamirano, who was sent by Jesuit Superior General Ignacio Visconti to Paraguay in 1752 to transfer territory from Spain to Portugal. He oversaw the transfer of seven missions south and east of the Río Uruguay that had been settled by Guaraní and Jesuits in the 17th century. As compensation, Spain promised each mission ‌fewer than 1peso for each of the approximately 30,000Guaraní of the seven ‌while the cultivated lands, livestock and buildings were estimated to be worth 7–16million pesos.

The film's climax is the Guaraní War of 1754–1756, during which historical Guaraní defended their homes against Spanish-Portuguese forces that were implementing the Treaty of Madrid. For the film, a re-creation was made of one of the seven missions, São Miguel das Missões.

Father Gabriel's character is loosely based on the life of Paraguayan saint and Jesuit Roque González de Santa Cruz. The story is taken from the book The Lost Cities of Paraguay by Father C. J. McNaspy, S.J., who was also a consultant on the film.

The waterfall setting of the film suggests the combination of these events with the story of older missions, founded between 1610 and 1630 on the Paranapanema River above the Guaíra Falls, from which Paulista slave raids forced Guaraní and Jesuits to flee in 1631. The battle at the end of the film evokes the eight-day Battle of Mbororé in 1641, a battle fought on land, as well as in boats on rivers, in which the Jesuit-organised, firearm-equipped Guaraní forces stopped the Paulista raiders.

James Schofield Saeger has many objections to the portrayal of the Guaraní in the movie. The film, in his opinion, is a "white European distortion of Native American reality". Native Americans are treated as "mission furniture".

The film asserts that the Guaraní accepted Christianity immediately, but in reality, native religious beliefs persisted for several generations. He believes that the movie glosses over the frequent resistance by Guaraní to Jesuit authority, as witnessed by several revolts and the refusal of many Guaraní to live in the missions.

Production

In the 1970s producer Fernando Ghia had the idea for a film about the Jesuits in South America set around Iguazu Falls. He was inspired by a play from Fritz Hochwälder called The Holy Experiment. Ghia commissioned a script from Robert Bolt which was paid for by Paramount (which had a deal with Bolt and Ghia at the time). The script, originally called Guarani, was finished in 1976 but Paramount declined the opportunity to make it. Ghia spent ten years trying to raise finance for a film of the script under its new title The Mission and eventually attracted interest from Goldcrest Films. The project was championed by David Puttnam, who had just made The Killing Fields and recommended that film's director, Roland Joffe, for The Mission. Puttnam joined the film as co producer. Warner Bros. Pictures provided $5 million. Several changes were made to the script after Joffe came on board. These included changing the character of the priest from that of an older man to a younger one.

Filming began in April 1985. The film was mostly filmed in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The tunnels of Fort Amherst in Kent were used as part of the monastery where Mendoza sequesters after murdering his brother.

Bodyguards had to be hired to protect Robert De Niro because the Medellín Cartel, led by Pablo Escobar, had threatened to kill any Americans found in Colombia, in retaliation for the Drug Enforcement Administration's cracking down on drug traffickers.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for The Mission is written by Ennio Morricone. Beginning with a liturgical piece ("On Earth as It Is in Heaven") that becomes the "Spanish" theme, it quickly moves to the "Guaraní" theme, which is written in a heavily native style and uses several indigenous instruments. Later, Morricone defined The Mission theme as a duet between the "Spanish" and "Guaraní" themes. The soundtrack was recorded at CTS Lansdowne Studios in London.

Other themes throughout the movie include "Penance", "Conquest" and "Ave Maria Guaraní'. In the latter, a large choir of indigenous people sing a rendition of the "Ave Maria".

Release

The film premiered in competition at the 39th Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 1986. It had its theatrical premiere in Madrid, Spain on 29 September 1986 before opening in 45 Spanish cities on 3 October. It opened in New York City on 31 October 1986.

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $17.2 million in the US and international box office, against a budget of £16.5 million, which was the US equivalent of $25.4 million, making it a commercial disappointment.

Goldcrest Films invested £15,130,000 in the film and received £12,250,000 in returns, netting Goldcrest a £2,880,000 loss. This contributed to the dissolution of Goldcrest.

Critical response

The Mission received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 63% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "The Mission is a well-meaning epic given delicate heft by its sumptuous visuals and a standout score by Ennio Morricone, but its staid presentation never stirs an emotional investment in its characters." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 18 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times reviewed the film unfavourably and blamed Bolt for its shortcomings, citing Bolt's tendency to "state points without dramatising them, in fancy locutions that must be the stuff of the nightmares of sensible actors", his stock characters who lack "dramatic identity", each personifying "a pre-set attitude", and his sentimental portrayal of the Guaraní, who "are condescended to as mostly smiling, trusting, undifferentiated aspects of ‌innocents with sweet singing voices and a lot of rhythm."

De Niro would later say of The Mission, "I thought it was a really wonderful, meaningful story[...] The idea of this man changing appealed to me a lot. It was an amazing experience and I liked Roland Joffé a lot. He's a good director with a lot of heart. Some people thought it was ponderous but I thought it was a wonderful movie. I'm partial, and I don't usually say that, but I thought it was."

Awards and honours

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! Institution

! Category

! Nominee(s)

! Result

!Ref.

|-

| rowspan="7"| Academy Awards

| Best Picture

| Fernando Ghia, David Puttnam

|

| rowspan="7" |

|-

| Best Director

| Roland Joffé

|

|-

| Best Art Direction

| Stuart Craig, Jack Stephens

|

|-

| Best Cinematography

| Chris Menges

|

|-

| Best Costume Design

| Enrico Sabbatini

|

|-

| Best Film Editing

| Jim Clark

|

|-

| Best Original Score

| Ennio Morricone

|

|-

| American Cinema Editors Awards

| Best Edited Feature Film

| Jim Clark

|

|

|-

| American Society of Cinematographers Awards

| Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases

| Chris Menges

|

|

|-

| Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards

| Best Foreign Film

| Roland Joffé

|

|

|-

| rowspan="11"| British Academy Film Awards

| Best Film

| Fernando Ghia, David Puttnam, Roland Joffé

|

| rowspan="11" |

|-

| Best Direction

| Roland Joffé

|

|-

| Best Actor in a Supporting Role

| Ray McAnally

|

|-

| Best Screenplay – Original

| Robert Bolt

|

|-

| Best Cinematography

| Chris Menges

|

|-

| Best Costume Design

| Enrico Sabbatini

|

|-

| Best Editing

| Jim Clark

|

|-

| Best Original Score

| Ennio Morricone

|

|-

| Best Production Design

| Stuart Craig

|

|-

| Best Sound

| Ian Fuller, Bill Rowe, Clive Winter

|

|-

| Best Special Visual Effects

| Peter Hutchinson

|

|-

| British Society of Cinematographers Awards

| Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film

| Chris Menges

|

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| Cannes Film Festival

| Palme d'Or

| rowspan="4"| Roland Joffé

|

| rowspan="2" |

|-

| Technical Grand Prize

|

|-

| César Awards

| Best Foreign Film

|

|

|-

| rowspan="3"| David di Donatello Awards

| Best Foreign Film

|

| rowspan="3" |

|-

| Best Foreign Actor

| Jeremy Irons

|

|-

| Best Foreign Producer

| Fernando Ghia, David Puttnam

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| Evening Standard British Film Awards

| Best Actor

| Ray McAnally

|

|

|-

| Best Screenplay

| Robert Bolt

|

|

|-

| rowspan="5"| Golden Globe Awards

| colspan="2"| Best Motion Picture – Drama

|

| rowspan="5" |

|-

| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

| Jeremy Irons

|

|-

| Best Director – Motion Picture

| Roland Joffé

|

|-

| Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

| Robert Bolt

|

|-

| Best Original Score – Motion Picture

| Ennio Morricone

|

|-

| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards

| colspan="2"| Best Film

|

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

| Best Cinematography

| Chris Menges

|

| rowspan="2" |

|-

| Best Music Score

| Ennio Morricone

|

|-

| Nastro d'Argento

| Best Foreign Actor

| Robert De Niro

|

|

|-

| National Board of Review Awards

| colspan="2"| Top Ten Films

|

|

|-

| New York Film Critics Circle Awards

| Best Cinematographer

| Chris Menges

|

|

|-

| Turkish Film Critics Association Awards

| colspan="2"| Best Foreign Film

|

|

|}

Lists

  • 1995: Vatican Film List (Religion)
  • 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – #23
  • 2007: Church Times Top 50 Religious Films – #1
  • 2013: ABC's Classic 100 Music in the Movies – #1

See also

  • Iguazu Falls

Notes

References

  • The Mission at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list