Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4432 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-06-02
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.co.uk 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

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Mission is director Roland Joffé's fuzzy effort at an epic in David Lean style without David Lean's sense of emotional proportion. In fact, Lean's most important screenwriting collaborator, Robert Bolt, 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. By way of compensation, Ennio Morricone contributes one of his most evocative and admired music scores. --Tom Keogh

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

• Commentary with director Rolland Joffe
  
• Omnibus documentary on the making of The Mission (1 hour)
  
• On location in Argentina and Columbia
  
• Theatrical trailer

DVD Technical Information:

• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen
  
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Subtitles: English, French, Arabic, Italian. Hearing impaired: English & Italian.

Customer Reviews

what happens if "God changes his mind"
Winner of the Palme D'or in 1986 at Cannes, "The Mission" is a feast to the eyes, as well as to the souls. Shot in exotic and spectacular backdrops of Colombia and Brazil, the film explores the power struggles and duality of Spanish and Portuguese presence in South America, depicts the violent clash of cultures, and the subjugation and eventual genocide of a tribe of Paraguayan indians known as the Guarani in the 1750s.

Seemingly "The Mission" appears to be a poignant movie about the harsh brutality of European imperialists toward primitive indians in an exotic locale. But the film is full of social didactic commentary, capturing the eternal struggle between greed & faith and power & honor. Without their consent, bringing "civilization" to an uncivilized mass be a good thing?; are they going to be better of with the salvation brought by the Jesuits? or their lives destined to be turned into hell by the condemnation brought by colonial monarchies?. At the end, Christianized "savages" become the victims of economic realpolitik, and people of God are killed in the name of God. This is really pitiful.

Of course, like all good movies the story is not enough. In this sense, "The Mission" depends too much on substance and style at the same time. Without top-notch performances of Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons, dazzling cinematography by Oscar-winner Chris Menges, and taut direction by Roland Joffe, it might have easily degraded into a cliché-drenched, stereotype-based flick narrating the story of the noble white man who civilized the savages by bringing them theocracy. Beatifully photographed from beginning to end, no single shot is without interest. The colors are wonderfully washed out to give the best possible effect. Backgrounds are thrilling, the views of the Igassu falls are particularly wonderful.

Last word: pure, plain and pitiful. This is a kinda movie that makes you think over and over again about the battle between faith and greed.

Pure beauty
The Mission was one of the first videos I ever bought and will forever be one the most intense, passionate and moving films I have ever seen. The sheer beauty of the film fills you with empathy and compassion for a story that is over 300 years old. Many a lesson both political and personal could be learnt from this epic film.

A beautiful portrayal of barbaric events with a soundtrack so bittersweet it's almost unbearable.

Everyone should see this film!

A wonderful film of great integrity and power
I read Robert Bolt's deeply moving novel, 'The Mission', before watching the film, and was therefore anxious to see how it would be treated on screen. As it happens, Bolt wrote the screenplay, and appears to have worked closely with the director, Rolland Joffe ('The Killing Fields'). The result is masterly, and everything I could have hoped for!

The story, based on true events, depicts the tragedy of a South American tribe at the hands of Church, State and European entrepreneurs over 200 years ago. Bolt and Joffe offer no easy answers to questions of faith, politics and morality, in this painfully modern tale. When is it right to kill for what you believe in? Who should command my loyalties - my country, my family, or my God? Can we ever know what is right or wrong?

The photography is outstanding, the acting courageous and beautifully judged, (including a magnificently restrained Robert de Niro as a reformed slave-trader turned Jesuit), and the story utterly compelling. You will truly care about the lives you witness.

The extra features are worth buying alone! The second disc is a documentary on the making of the film, but more riveting is the director's commentary on disc 1. He explains clearly and passionately the many layers to the making of 'The Mission'. Above all, he explores the extraordinary way in which he employed a genuine South American tribe, who had never seen white people before, let alone a film. As Roffe was unable to direct these indians in the way he would more conventional actors, the indians' performances are more or less their real responses to the scenes Roffe sets up. He handed over a great many decisions to them, and allowed them to choose and act according to their culture and feelings.

A particularly touching aspect is the bond that developed between de Niro and an eleven-year old boy, (and natural actor), to the point that the boy begged to live with de Niro in New York!

I know of no other film like it, and would wish everyone to see it.