100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #57: The Mission (1986)

Directed by Roland Joffé. Written by Robert Bolt. Starring Jeremy Irons, Robert de Niro, Ray McAnally

There are really three missions in The Mission, each intertwined with the others. The first mission is Fr. Gabriel’s mission to the Guarani; the second, Rodrigo Montoya’s mission to find redemption; and finally, Cardinal Altamirano’s mission to suppress the missions and allow the Portuguese to occupy their land. Each of these characters represents a different philosophy of love, loyalty, and conscience, some of screenwriter Robert Bolt’s main preoccupations (see his other entries on this list, A Man for All Seasons and Lawrence of Arabia). Each man is totally dedicated to his mission, but they are each challenged by a different loyalty, a deep-seated element of their character, to abandon or redirect their mission. For each, many lives and many souls, including their very own, are at stake.