The Mission, a story of Theology and Beauty.

The ruins of Paraguay.

A 1996 film of transcendent beauty and timeless theme, The Mission is centered in the Paraguayan jungles, as Jesuit missionaries follow a calling to "civilize" the natives. The broader story, based on actual historical events, involves the clash of politics, human values, the human heart, brought to focus in decisions confronting Papal emissary Cardinal Altamirano.

Unspoken and presented as a matter of simple fact is that "civilizing" means, front and center, the teaching of European music and building of a quietly magnificent cathedral. Though there is a brief presentation of some commerce in the form of a banana farm, the true center of the Jesuit effort is the arts. The theology of beauty.

The DVD of this film is in the small, selective number I keep in my personal collection for repeated viewing, nearly 20 years after its creation. The story is heartrending. The cinematography is one powerful image after another. The music, scored by Ennio Morricone, is eternal, archetypal.