The Mission

The previous post reminded me about a film I had seen a few months back. It is called 'The Mission' and stars Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson. The film is set a few hundred years back in Latin America and is about two missionaries fighting for the rights of South American Indians against Spanish colonial landowners. It is one of the most thought provoking and engrossing films I have seen. 'The Mission' was recommended to me by a friend of mine who is a philosophy professor. He wanted me to see that sometimes missionaries give up dogma, ideology and politics (and go against the church as well) to be by the side of justice, freedom and what they deem as right. They sometimes give up their life in the process as well. I would highly recommend the film which is incidentally historically true. The reason I brought up this topic is because I also realize that the fanatic side of evangelists is mostly what we see and hear about. There are many missionaries in the remotest parts of the world doing some extremely good work. These are areas where you and I would definitely not venture. Doing that work in God's name does not take away any of the merit of that good work. Many of these missionaries are the most devoted and kind people you will come across. But that is something that one rarely hears, sees or reads about.