Parents' Guide to The Mission

This period drama set in an 18th-century South American Jesuit missionary and released in 1986 is widely acclaimed. Ennio Moriconne's soundtrack features in "best ever" lists and The Mission itself is one of just a few movies to be endorsed by The Vatican. It's star-studded too. De Niro gives a solid performance as an enslaver turned monk after he gets a second chance by Jeremy Irons' Father Gabriel. It's shot in the verdant jungle of South America, and won an Oscar for best Best Cinematography. But the sum of these parts is a formless ramble. Any interesting ideas get lost and director Roland Joffe's poor judgement in having real screaming babies piled up in mud and rain is a misstep that wipes out any goodwill toward the snail's pace story.

While De Niro does a solid job, the same can't be said for others. Ray McAnally as the cardinal has the movie's wisest line, reflecting that the Guarani people might have preferred that the outsiders had never turned up. But for the rest of the movie, his baffling performance undermines the steely authority the script suggests he should command. He dodders through each scene, confused, and giddy. His aimlessness rubs off on the audience and midway we find ourselves in the middle of the jungle, similarly underwhelmed and confused.