The Mission: Film Review
The Mission was released in 1986 by producers Fernando Ghia and David Puttnam assisted by director Roland Joffe. Some of the actors consisted of Robert De Niro as Rodrigo Mendoza, the main protagonist, and Jeremy Irons as Father Gabriel. The movie, as a whole, I enjoyed very much. The character development in the beginning caught my attention and didn’t leave me constantly drifting off as other films might have. In the movie, Jesuit missionaries are trying to protect a native tribe they had converted to Christianity from Portugal who wanted to enslave the natives for their own use. Rodrigo Mendoza had to go through trials before he accepted his position as a Jesuit priest after he was given the choice by Father Gabriel…
I would assume the movies he has directed have been very good to have received these awards and nominations. As for the actors, I believe they did an excellent job overall. The only parts I have mixed feelings about were how the deaths were acted out. It took away from the movie for me personally because they did not seem realistic. Instant blood and dramatic falls did not provide an accurate depiction of how devastating this event was. De Niro and Irons did an especially great job portraying their characters. In the very end of the movie, you could see Rodrigo’s struggle to hold on and Father Gabriel’s fear, although he would not turn his back on the natives who had put their trust in him. The other actors who played the other Jesuit missionaries did an excellent job as well, but in my opinion, did not have as an important position in the movie like De Niro or Irons. The actors portraying the Portuguese slave traders really took hold of the ignorance the Portuguese had towards the Natives. Ray McAnally, who had the role of the Cardinal, did a great job of showing how difficult the decision was for him to give Portuguese control as well as his regret and grief for the destruction that…