The Mission is a British period drama movie from 1986 about a Jesuit missionary’s experiences in 18th-century South America. The movie stars Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi, and Liam Neeson and was directed by Roland Joffé and written by Robert Bolt.
It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. It was voted number one on the Church Times’ Top 50 Religious Films list in April 2007. It’s also one of fifteen films on the Vatican’s film list that fall under the category ‘Religion.’ The soundtrack, composed by Italian musician Ennio Morricone, came in first place on the ABC’s Classic 100 Music in the Movies list.
The circumstances surrounding the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, when Spain relinquished part of Jesuit Paraguay to Portugal, inspired the Mission. The coming suppression of the Jesuits is a major subtext, as the film’s narrator, Cardinal Altamirano, who was formerly a Jesuit, warns Father Gabriel. Altamirano refers to the actual Andalusian Jesuit Father Luis Altamirano, who was dispatched to Paraguay in 1752 by Jesuit Superior General Ignacio Visconti to transfer land from Spain to Portugal.
The real Altamirano was an agent sent by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Ignacio Visconti, to protect the Jesuits in Europe in the face of hostilities in Spain and Portugal, rather than a cardinal sent by the Pope. The majority of the movie was shot in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. The Fort Amherst tunnels in Kent were used as part of the monastery where Mendoza (Robert De Niro) sought refuge after killing his brother.
The picture made $17.2 million in the United States and abroad on a budget of £16.5 million, which at the time was the equivalent of $25.4 million in the United States, making it a commercial flop.
Also READ: Which was the first movie to have a black person?
