The Mission

An Oscar® nominations heavyweight back in its day, The Mission emerged with only one award (richly deserved, for Cinematography) and a controversial slight for Morricone who had been considered a shoo-in until the prize went to Herbie Hancock for his score for Round Midnight which, brilliant as it was, contained mostly pre-existing work. A film that perhaps has faded in the public imagination in the intervening years, the good news is this tale of a Jesuit priest (Jeremy Irons) – who sets up the titular mission in the Amazonian jungle as religious and political forces close in and two worlds collide – holds up very well indeed. That it does, is in no small part due to Morricone’s hugely ambitious, entirely successful score. The core theme, ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’, is simply one of the most beautiful and sweeping of his career.