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Contents © 1999
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

The Mission

1986, Directed by Roland Joffe Starring Robert DeNiro, Jeremy Irons 1986, Color, 126 minutes, Rated PG Available at Hollywood Video

Ernie: The irony is that the Cardinal writes to the Pope about "paradise on earth offending Your Holiness because it distracts from paradise in heaven." We're supposed to see that as some kind of arcane idea of religion, when really, it's the truth.

Matthew: And it's what happens. The film is mired in earth. There is no notion of the invasion of God into the lives of these people. When the Indians ask if God has abandoned them, Irons never counters by saying what happens to you on earth is no sign of God's presence in your life. The doctrine of suffering never comes up. Christ promised that the world would hate Christians.

Ernie: The Cardinal says, I was astounded by the beauty of the limb that I was sent to cut off, but the beauty we are shown consists in liberated workers -- nothing about the spiritual life.

***

Ernie: The film attempted to use the emotions of this terribly sad situation -- the missions being destroyed and the people being enslaved -- to promote something wrong. Instead of seeing the Indians as martyrs, which is what thy really were, the film turns them into political victims, which is, in the end, to debase their suffering.

--Ernie Grimm and Matthew Lickona