Recently Watched: The Mission

[ellyssian]

The Mission

I really don't remember how I got him on the subject - probably discussing flute and, more specifically, pan pipes. Somehow, that led Brad - a co-worker who supplied me with flute music and books and gave me some advice for playing - to bring in the soundtrack to this film. I wasn't exactly sure I'd like it, but I gave it a spin anyway and I was hooked. Sooner or later, I just had to make an effort to see the movie that was described so brilliantly by Ennio Morricone.

There are really multiple stories in here, and one fits into the other. The overarching story is that of political and religious groups fiddling around with this brand new world they found, determining, from Europe, who lives and dies. Actually, not so much who lives and dies, but who is enslaved and who isn't, but it amounts to the same thing in the end. An inner story is one of a man seeking penance for a crime he most certainly did commit. His service of that penance places him on a side - coincidentally, the opposite of the one that he, as a noble, had taken prior to his act of violent passion - in that overall story. Another inner story is that of the Jesuit mission reaching out to the Guarani indians - of how the priests met with disaster, as shown on the cover of the soundtrack and in the opening movements of the movie, when a priest is strapped to a cross and sent down Iguaçu Falls.

The falls. They feature several times in the film - the opening, Father Gabriel's climb, Rodrigo's penance, and, at last, the enemy army's approach. They are so breathtakingly beautiful - the cinematography in this movie is deeply powerful, as it takes you deep into the jungles of South America and to these awesome falls. As horrifying as some of the actions of the major European governments might be, as unfortunate the decisions of the Catholic Church might be, it's the location and the natives that live there that are the true stars of the movie. The Guarani in the film are played by the descendants of the Guarani.

Jeremy Irons portrays Father Gabriel, the leader of the Jesuits above the falls, who reaches out to the Guarani with his oboe, who attempts to prove to the ruling faction in Rome, Spain, and Portugal that the Guarani are not animals and have souls through their expression of music. It is without a doubt the best performance I've seen from Irons, and a great character - the peaceful power, a good heart, a good man. Robert De Niro's portrayal of Rodrigo is, likewise, the one by which I'll judge all his other performances. From the initial attitude and power he exudes, fallen and broken, then striving for penance - climbing the falls with his swords and armor in a net, dragging behind him. Liam Neeson plays a part as one of the Jesuit brothers, and Aidan Quinn plays a much smaller, but no less powerful part.

Although I don't doubt you could see this movie and spin it this way or that to paint the Jesuits in the wrong, or, perhaps worse, the colonial governments in the right, that's essentially what this movie points out. Some people, no matter how allegedly religious, have only their own selfish motivations, their own greed, their own power to look after. Others... don't. They may choose different paths, they may have been on different paths to begin with, but they have chosen to pick someone up rather than push them down. To me, this is one of a handful of stories - in any media - that can teach such a critical lesson.

Comments

[la-belledame.livejournal.com]

This is one of the most heartrending movies I've ever seen. It's really remarkable.