The MissionIMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091530/Jeremy Irons plays a Spanish Jesuit who goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region. Robert DeNiro plays a slave hunter who is converted and joins Irons in his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portugese aggressors.
Review
I have read the other comments and am stunned by people who view The Mission in a negative light. It feels as though you are attacking a loved one - perhaps because this movie IS a loved one to me. Never, ever have I felt so deeply about a film. I don't have any idea where to begin checking off the pro's: cinematography? stupendous acting? heart-breaking subject matter? moving soundtrack? I don't think it's possible to do that with The Mission - one needs to absorb it as a whole. An entire masterpiece.
I was one of the fortunate ones to see this movie in a theatre back in the 80's - we were visiting friends in another city and, for lack of anything better to do that evening, decided to see this film. To say I was moved would be such an understatement as to be ridiculous. It is the saddest commentary on what horrors have been perpetrated in the name of God....
I have seen this movie several times since then and own it now but I am always very careful whom I see it with and when I see it. You need to have a block of time set aside when you can completely immerse yourself in this film. Unplug the phone, put the kids to bed, make sure the dog doesn't have to go out. If you don't pay attention - from the very beginning to right after the credits - you will miss something important. Prepare yourself emotionally for The Mission. Step into it, live it, let it speak to you. Feel the struggle of all involved.
I love this movie. infinity out of 10
Black RobeIMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101465/In the 17th century a Jesuit priest and a young companion are escorted through the wilderness of Quebec by Algonquin Indians to find a distant mission in the dead of winter. The Jesuit experiences a spiritual journey while his young companion falls in love with the Algonquin chief's beautiful daughter underneath the imposing and magnificent mountains. Dread and death follows them upriver.
A Passage to IndiaIMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087892/Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.
Trailer
Full movie, part 1
Rabbit Proof FenceIMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252444/Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian drama film based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is based on a true story concerning the author's mother, as well as two other mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, to return to their Aboriginal families, after having been placed there in 1931. The film follows the girls as they trek/walk for nine weeks along 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of the Australian rabbit-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong, while being pursued by a white authority figure and an Aboriginal tracker.
Review
This is a very powerful film from the wonderful Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American) and its based on the shameful history in Australia where aborigine children were taken by force from their families and tribes to camps and taught to be servants. In the film 3 sisters escape and venture to walk 1,500 miles back to their tribe. The title refers to a fenceline that stretches for thousands of miles and the girls follow it. The wonderful aborigine actor David Gulpilil (Walkabout) plays a scout that is tracking the girls and Kenneth Branaugh plays an officer that is in charge of the whole operation. I guess the main flaw in the film would be the middle where most of the walking takes place and the film really slows down but its not a major complaint. The 1,500 mile trek is expertly paced and the film is by no means dull. Rather, its fascinating! The real footage that we see at the end of the film is so powerful that the whole essence of what you have just watched becomes even more devastating. This is more than just an important film, its a documentation of an ugly and shameful part of Australian history. A must see!
Trailer
Full movie, part 1
GallipoliIMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082432/The story of a group of young Australian men who leave their various backgrounds behind and sign up to join the ANZACs in World War I. They are sent to Gallipoli, where they encounter the might of the Turkish army.
Trailer