The Mission (1986)

Go to top of this document  Filmography, discography, credits

Filmography

Goldcrest Pictures, distr. Warner Brothers, 1986. 125 minutes.

VHS PAL, widescreen: Warner Brothers SO 15031, 1996.
Also as recorded off-air from Swedish TV2, 24 February 1990.

DVD NTSC region 1, widescreen:Warner 23497 (2003).
DVD chapters

01
0:00:00
 Letter to the pope
12
0:42:30
 A new life
23
1:29:39
Closing the missions
02
0:02:46
 Over Igazu Falls
13
0:46:34
Mendoza's conversion
24
1:31:15
 Call to arms
03
0:04:22
Credits
14
0:49:02
 Father Rodrigo
25
1:32:39
 Overnight raid
04
0:06:41
Father Gabriel's Climb
15
0:50:58
 The Cardinal arrives
26
1:34:59
 Advancing troops
05
0:09:56
The Guaraní
16
0:54:24
Meeting His Eminence
27
1:37:05
No place in the world
06
0:14:44
Hunting above the falls
17
0:59:48
 The apology
28
1:39:15

Forces in motion
07
0:18:58
 Illicit love
18
1:05:11
 Mission tour
29
1:43:01
 Battle joined
08
0:24:15
 A brother's death
19
1:11:05
Cardinal's conscience
30
1:47:52
 Ablaze
09
0:27:44
 Double dare
20
1:14:47
|San Carlos
31
1:51:44
 Two of many martyrs
10
0:31:43
 Perilous penance
21
1:21:34
 Cardinal's decree
32
1:56:57
Thus have I made the world
11
0:38:22
 Epiphany
22
1:26:19
 Sword in hand
33
1:59:18
 Coda and End Credits
[End at 2:04:55]

Go to top of this document  Discography

The Mission (LP). Virgin V2402 (1986).
Music written and orchestrated by Ennio Morricone.
London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer.
London Voices Music conducted by G Shaw.
Barnet Schools Choir conducted by J Mazwell Pryce.
Indian music instrumentation by Incantation.

Side A

01 On Earth As It Is In Heaven [3:48]
02 Falls [1:53]
03 Gabriel's Oboe [2:12]
04 Ave Maria Guaraní [2:48]
05 Brothers [1:30]
06 Carlotta [1:19]
07 Vita Nostra [1:52]
08 Climb [1:35]
09 Remorse [2:46]
10 Penance [4:00]

Side B

01 The Mission [2:47]
02 River [1:57]
03 Gabriel's Oboe (II) [2:38]
04 Te Deum Guaraní [:46]
05 Refusal [3:28]
06 Asunción [1:25]
06 Alone [4:18]
08 Guaraní [3:54]
09 The Sword [1:58]
10 Miserere [:59]

 

Go to top of this document  Credits (main cast, production, awards)

    Main cast

Robert De Niro - Mendoza Jeremy Irons - Father Gabriel
Ray McAnally - Altamirano (the cardinal) Liam Neeson - Fielding
Asuncion Ontiveros - Indian chief Silvestre Chiripua - Indian
Bercelio Moya - Indian Boy Ronald Pickup - Hontar
Asuncion Ontiveros - Indian chief Chuck Low - Cabeza
Cherie Lunghi - Carlotta Carlos Duplat - Portuguese Commander
Aidan Quinn - Felipe Rev. Daniel Berrigan - Sebastian

Go to top of this document  Production

Roland Joffé - Director Norman Dorme, John King - Set Designers
Fernando Ghia - Producer George Richardson - Art Director
David Puttnam - Producer Enrico Sabbatini - Costume Designer
Chris Menges - Cinematographer Tommie Manderson - Makeup
Chris Roberts - Cinematographer Peter Hutchinson - Special Effects
Ennio Morricone - Composer Michael Roberts - Camera Operator
Jim Clark - Editor Vic Armstrong - Stunts
Stuart Craig - Production Designer Alejandro Azzano - executive producer
Jack Stephens - Production Designer / Set Designer Felipe López Caballero - executive producer

Go to top of this document  Awards

1986 Academy Best Cinematography (Oscar) - Chris Menges
1986 British Academy Awards Golden Palm - Roland Joffé
1986 British Academy Awards Best Costume Design - Enrico Sabbatini
1987 Golden Globe Best Score - Ennio Morricone 1987
1986 British Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor - Ray McAnally
1987 Golden Globe Best Screenplay - Robert Bolt

Go to top of this document  About the film (www.allmovie.com)

Featuring a majestic score by Ennio Morricone and lush Oscar-winning cinematography by Chris Menges, Roland Joffe's The Mission examines the events surrounding the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, when Spain ceded part of South America to Portugal, and turns this episode into an allegory for the mid-1980s struggles of Latin America. Two European forces are on hand to win the South American natives over to imperialist ways. The plunderers want to extract riches and slaves from the New World. The missionaries, on the other hand, want to convert the Indians to Christianity and win over their souls. Mendoza (Robert De Niro) is an exploiter dabbling in the slave trade. But after he kills his brother Felipe (Aidan Quinn) in a fit of rage, he seeks redemption and calls upon the missionaries to assist him. After repeatedly climbing a cliff with a heavy weight as penance, Mendoza finds redemption and becomes a devout missionary at a settlement run by Gabriel (Jeremy Irons). The missionaries want to promote a new society in which the natives will live together in peace with the Spanish and the Portuguese. But this concept frightens the royal governors, who would rather enslave the natives than encourage peaceful coexistence between the Europeans and the Indians. They order the mission to be burned to the ground. But this event causes a rift between Gabriel, who wants to pray and pursue peaceful resistance, and Mendoza, who wants to take up arms and fight the Europeans.

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