The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Roland Joff?
List Price:
Our Price: $21.99
You Save: $4.99 (18%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $11.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Robert De NiroDirector: Roland Joff?
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Chris Menges
Producer: Alejandro Azzano
Producer: David Puttnam
Producer: Felipe L?pez Caballero
Producer: Fernando Ghia
Producer: Iain Smith
Writer: Robert Bolt
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 126 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-05-13
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: Great Movie That Moved Me Personally! The Sign of a Classic!
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie moved me (no pun intended) on a number of levels as its theme of hypocrisy, greed, betrayal and the inhumanity and cruelty of man hits home hard and yet I couldn't help but feel that it was a little too short at just a little over 2 hours long. Perhaps this film too was a victim of commercial factors and that it was edited to this time frame but if ever a film would be better off for being longer it would have to be this one.
I felt the characters didn't have time to develop enough and that this fine wine didn't get to breathe before we were forced to drink it. I felt DeNiro's story at the beginning and his character could have benefitted from some development and I would have liked to have seen more of the everyday life of the tribe and their spiritual development.
For this reason, I hope a good Director's Cut Blu-ray version is released soon as this movie if given the chance to slowly unravel has the potential to be at least as good as "Lawrence of Arabia". This doesn't mean that this is a bad film in any way but it certainly could have been at least a little bit better. In fact it is a testimony to how good this film is in that I'm actually asking for it to be at least 3 hours long instead of wishing the running length to be shorter as I do for many other films.
As someone from Portuguese/Asian descent who is also Catholic; this film moved me greatly as it reminded me of how imperfect some of my ancestors both of descent and of faith were and I was actually very sad by many of the scenes. The fact that Portugal still allowed slavery even after Spain "abolished" it sickens me and the fact that the Church had so little faith in their beliefs to engage tragically in the politics of the time to totally pervert Christ's teachings leaves me also with great disappointment.
The Cardinal's inexplicable decision to not protect the innocent and Christ's little innocent ones from effectively what became Satan's minions showed his great lack of faith in the very religion he professes to follow. His misplaced concern that the Jesuits would be wiped out of existance as being a worthy reason to commit a gross sin of omission and allow genocide for greed sickened me. If it was God's will to protect the Jesuits, nothing would have threatened them and all they needed to do was to do the simple command of Jesus to go forth and spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Jeremy Irons does this to the bitter end and hence imitates Christ the best while everyone else ironically does the opposite and does Satan's work in the name of Christ. I found the scene where even the Blessed Sacrament is shot at to be the most touching as "followers" of Christ actually shoot at Him. This film will stay with me for a long time as I ponder the many aspects over time.
This dvd is very well put together as well as I really like the mostly cardboard packaging and the bonus dvd is a real treat describing the making of the film as well as highlighting how natives in South America are still being abused and exploited to this day. The picture quality is very good and so is the sound quality although I would repeat that a longer, Director's Cut version restored both picture and sound-wise in Blu-ray would be a real treat. With the 25th anniversary of the film due in a couple of years time, this would be a good opportunity to do such a project.
I wait with bated breath!
Recommended!
Summary of The Mission (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Rodrigo Mendoza (ROBERT DE NIRO) was a violent soldier-for-hire in 1750s South America. Now he is a man of peace serving the Rain Forest Indians he once enslaved. But armies of Spain and Portugal threaten the lifestyle and safety of the native peoples. Now Rodrigo may have to pick up his sword and musket once again. From the producer of Chariots of Fire and the director of The Killing Fields comes a powerful epic co-starring JEREMY IRONS and graced with dazzling Academy Award-winning cinematography, set to a memorable music score and scripted by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of A Man for All Seasons and Doctor Zhivago.Roland Joff? (The Killing Fields) directs this fuzzy effort at a David Lean-like epic without David Lean's sense of emotional proportion. Lean's most important screenwriting collaborator, Robert Bolt, in fact wrote The Mission, which concerns a Jesuit missionary (Jeremy Irons) who establishes a church in the hostile jungles of Brazil and then finds his work threatened by greed and political forces among his superiors. Robert De Niro is briefly effective as a callous soldier who kills his own brother and then turns to Irons's character to oversee his penance and conversion to the clergy. The narrative and dramatic forces at work in this movie should be more stirring and powerful than they are--the problem being that Joff? is too removed from them to allow us in. --Tom Keogh
Action & Adventure DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in 20 More of the Greatest Musical Scores & Songs in Movies of All Time
Jarhead (Widescreen Edition)Universal; Release date: 2006-03-07; DVD
Best price: $1.94
Price in other shops:
8 Mile (Widescreen Edition)Universal; Release date: 2003-03-18; DVD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Half Baked (Fully Baked Widescreen Edition)Universal; Release date: 2005-02-15; DVD
Best price: $5.68
Price in other shops:
Friday (New Line Platinum Series)Warner Brothers; Release date: 1999-03-02; DVD
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)Universal; Release date: 2005-09-06; DVD
Best price: $14.14
Price in other shops:
The Illusionist (Widescreen Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-01-09; DVD
Best price: $5.44
Price in other shops:
Midnight Cowboy (Two Disc Collector's Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2006-02-21; DVD
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops:
Pee-Wee's Big AdventureWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-11-04; DVD
Best price: $12.14
Price in other shops:
Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)Paramount; Release date: 2006-08-15; DVD
Best price: $9.27
Price in other shops:
Easy RiderFONDA,PETER; Release date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Doctor Zhivago (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2001-11-06; DVD
Best price: $49.47
BecketMPI; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $13.52
Price in other shops:
Amazing GraceGRUFFUDD,IOAN; Release date: 2007-11-13; DVD
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
Romero (IMPORT)Published: 2002; DVD
Best price: $16.89
Babette's FeastRelease date: 2001-01-23; DVD
Best price: $6.72
Price in other shops:
AmadeusWarner Brothers; Release date: 1997-12-17; DVD
Best price: $9.84
Price in other shops:
Chariots of Fire (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2005-02-01; DVD
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops:
Gandhi (Widescreen Two-Disc Collector's Edition)Sony; Release date: 2007-02-20; DVD
Best price: $10.94
Price in other shops:
A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2007-02-20; DVD
Best price: $6.24
Price in other shops:
The Mission: Original Soundtrack From The Motion PictureRelease date: 1992-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $7.70
Price in other shops: