Die Mission (1986)
60KDie Mission: Directed by Roland Joffé. With Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn. Eighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.
“The Mission is amoung the top ten or twenty films ever made. At this point it is my favourite film. It is an eloquent essay in faith and redemption. The two most moving scenes are the one in which the Brother enters the Jungle above the waterfall, from which the Indians have cast the previous Brother that went up to them, and knowing that the Indians are all about him unseen in the jungle with their poison tipped arrows, he sits down in a clearing and plays the hauntingly beautiful u0026quot;Gabrielu0026#39;s obou0026quot; tune on his own obo. The Indianu0026#39;s are mesmirised and emerge and befriend him. The Brother thinks: u0026quot;If I had an orchestra, I could have subdued the whole continent.u0026quot; The other scene is where the former Slave driver, who repents after killing his brother, whom he loved above all else, goes with the Brothers up to the settlement of the Indians whom he was taking away to slavery on sugar plantations. The former slave driver has been forgiven his sins but he nevertheless feels the need to do a private penance of dragging the battle armour of his previous life with him through the jungle. When the brothers come upon the Indians, the slave driver fully expects them to kill him for his deeds but instead they cut away the bundle of armour he is dragging and welcome him to them. This echoing of divine Love by the Indians enables the former slave driver to believe in his redemption and to be born again at one with God. The mission is a film that you wonu0026#39;t forget. See it today. (Watch out for Liam Neeson in it too by the way.)”
