The Mission (1986)
Directed by Roland Joffé
When a Spanish Jesuit goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region, a slave hunter is converted and joins his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.
6 connections found
View:
6 films that influenced The Mission
What critics say influenced The Mission
Screenwriter Robert Bolt was also responsible for A Man for All Seasons (also on the Vatican film list for religious significance), Fred Zinneman’s incomparable film about the last years of St. Thomas More, who was martyred under King Henry VIII.
This is a powerful, compelling, and spiritually stirring film directed by Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields) and written by Robert Bolt (A Man For All Seasons).
Screenwriter Robert Bolt ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago," "A Man for All Seasons"), music composer Ennio Morricone ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "The Untouchables"), and director Roland Joffé ("The Killing Fields," "City of Joy") give us a moving, inspiring, even rousing tale set against a politically sensitive and socially volatile backdrop.
Something like this always seems to happen with Robert Bolt's screenplays (think Lawrence of Arabia , Doctor Zhivago ): after laying out a fierce political crisis within an especially unstable impasse of global history, the movies quickly take a detour into picture-postcard scenery and/or the outright hagiography of at-best ambivalent crusaders.
Screenwriter Robert Bolt ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago," "A Man for All Seasons"), music composer Ennio Morricone ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "The Untouchables"), and director Roland Joffé ("The Killing Fields," "City of Joy") give us a moving, inspiring, even rousing tale set against a politically sensitive and socially volatile backdrop.
And while composer Ennio Morricone ("Once Upon a Time in the West") has written a spectacular score, combining gorgeous church choirs, Indian panpipes and sweeping symphonic effects, Joffe' makes poor use of it -- the music, too, reaches its peak in the first 10 minutes.
But attention should also be given to the screenplay, adapted by first-time screenwriter Robert Bolt, who later wrote A Man for All Seasons and The Mission .
In the hands of screen writer Robert Bolt ("Lawrence of Arabia"), that history is translated into the stories of three men.
Screenwriter Robert Bolt ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago," "A Man for All Seasons"), music composer Ennio Morricone ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "The Untouchables"), and director Roland Joffé ("The Killing Fields," "City of Joy") give us a moving, inspiring, even rousing tale set against a politically sensitive and socially volatile backdrop.
Advertisement
As much as in Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, The Mission takes viewers deep into the jungle along with the characters and abandons them there.
The Mission represented Roland Joffé's follow-up to his deeply unsettling directorial debut, The Killing Fields.
That it’s artfully photographed is hardly a surprise: Joffé, Menges, and producer David Puttam previously collaborated on The Killing Fields, which also won an Oscar for cinematography.
"The Mission" was produced by David Puttnam and directed by Roland Joffe , the same team that made the great film " The Killing Fields ."
This is a powerful, compelling, and spiritually stirring film directed by Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields) and written by Robert Bolt (A Man For All Seasons).
What's puzzling is that the director who demonstrated such a painterly eye in "The Killing Fields" has lent so little lyricism to "The Mission."
Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro costar in this sober movie directed by Roland Joffe of "The Killing Fields" and put together by a hard-working team of heavyweights.