The Mission

Day 194 - 7/13/09 - Movie #194

BEFORE: Today was the Dancing of the Giglio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where 100 or so men from the parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel lift a 5-story tower and a model boat, both on platforms with 12-piece brass bands, and carry them through the streets around the church. (While we spectators stand around, applaud, and eat lots of calzones and sausage-and-peppers heroes) Any resemblance to Robert De Niro's character carrying a heavy bag of armor up a raging waterfall is purely coincidental...

OK, full disclosure - I have seen this film once before, when it was released in theaters in 1986. But I haven't watched it since, and I don't remember anything about it, so it qualifies. I need one more De Niro film anyway, to make the chain end where I want it to, plus I can't pass up the chance to watch 2 films about religious figures in South America back-to-back. Plus, I just want to watch it, and that's allowed, right?

This might be the 2nd De Niro film I ever saw (after "Brazil"), since I didn't get around to watching the "Godfather" films until later on. This film reminds me of a period in college where I went to the movies a lot, usually by myself - this was before DVDs were even on the market, and before I had any access to cable TV.

THE PLOT: 18th century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American Indian tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.

AFTER: I'm glad I bent my own rules to watch this - the struggle between the Jesuit priests and the Portugese colonial army was ten times more exciting than waiting for that damned bridge to collapse in last night's movie.

This is a complex movie, and a complicated historical issue - who had the right to the land? Since the Jesuit priests had educated and Christian-ized the natives, it was hard to classify them as "savages", yet that's what the high church officials wanted to do, to make it easier for the Portuguese government to enslave them and colonize the land. Amid this backdrop, we see the personal struggle of the Jesuit priests, who had to choose between obeying the church, or defending the natives, risking excommunication.

RATING: 8 out of 10 bibles

DENIR-O-METER: A solid 7. Jeremy Irons plays the senior priest, but De Niro plays a mercenary slave trader who seeks redemption, becomes a priest himself, then is forced to become a mercenary again - that's a juicy role, for sure.