From a documentarian perspective, The Mission is faced with an intriguing challenge. How can one explore the inner lives of young latter-day saint missionaries, who are prone to being chaste and devout due to their religious beliefs, whenever they venture out to Finland, one of Europe’s most private and skeptical regions?
It’s a journalistic endeavor that first-time feature filmmaker Tania Anderson handles admirably and resiliently, presenting a cinema verite exploration that favors quiet, naturalistic moments that welcome us into these private lives with considerate and careful ease. The result perhaps lacks the clearly-defined narrative arc that allows this wieldy effort to lock in on its true hook, but in the process, The Mission discovers something more explorative and emotionally honest than some might expect at first glance.
In life, we often find that not everything meets our expectations or plays out as dramatically as we thought, or hoped, it would. You can sometimes discover new aspects of your “self” even when there’s not something inherently dramatic or outwardly cathartic happening in your life. The Mission seizes upon this avenue to present life more authentically and sincerely, though it’s ultimately understandable if the documentary leaves audiences yearning for a deeper, more meaningful conclusion. For me, I found enough warm, soulful, and nuanced reflection to consider the experience worthwhile.
As The Mission notes, the Church of Latter-Day Saints—perhaps better known as the Mormon religious group—dispatches thousands of young missionaries around the world every year in order to preach the gospel and spread the cultural values of their religion. These missionaries must adapt to foreign customs, learn the language, make a few friends, and hopefully convert followers during this two-year process. It’s quite an undertaking, especially for four teenagers still figuring themselves out at such an impressionable time in their lives.
And their mission isn’t easily accomplished, especially in a cold, reclusive land like Finland. Favoring a refrained approach that allows the subjects to live their lives undisturbed by the film lens, Anderson allows these young devout Mormons to open up reflexively, letting us learn about themselves and their mission without the filters that they usually need to employ when propagating their message. It’s the right approach, because it allows audiences to get a more humanist, honest reflection of a religion that has often felt elusive to many outside of it.
By allowing these youths to let their guard down, even infrequently, Anderson helps bridge a gap of understanding between the audiences and these personalities through gradual grace. It’s a testament to the director’s journalistic skill that she builds such investment, given the challenges that plague her own mission, which include a pandemic that disrupts everyone’s lives during filming, as well as the film itself.
Viewed in that sense, there’s an unintended dual narrative at play in The Mission. As these young teens implement themselves into a country that has little-to-no interest in listening to their gospel or taking them seriously, Anderson is left with the challenge of figuring out what makes these teenagers tick and what allows them to devote their formative years to this burdensome pursuit. It’s hard to know if Anderson got exactly what she wanted out of this effort, but the bumpy third act strains the movie from feeling wholly realized. There’s a nagging sense that COVID prevented the conclusion from being found, sadly, and the director had to make do with what she could do. Nevertheless, just as these teens don’t lose faith in their mission, neither does the filmmaker. She faces this obstacle with resolve and with more catharsis than you might anticipate, resulting in a finale that’s not as impactful as it should be, but not without compassion and consideration.
Elevated by Mikko Joensuu’s evocative score and Antti Savolainen’s gorgeous cinematography, The Mission may be too modest a documentary to make a resounding impact in the long run, but its patient and searching craftsmanship is commendable in its own right. These limitations seem deliberate and unintended all at once, but while they prevent the documentary from reaching its holiest heights, there’s a great deal to admire in how much it gives ample insight into a place and religion that’s known for its relentless privacy.
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It’s hard to make a movie that lets us see into inner lives without feeling as though we’re prying, and The Mission doesn’t ultimately feel exploitative or opportunistic. Rather, it allows us to get a look at a particular lifestyle that isn’t well-known to the vast majority of people around the world, and it allows us to better understand what it means to test your faith in an alienating world that’s always challenging you. Only those who pursue themselves dutifully and willfully will succeed, and despite the hardships that she faces, Anderson can say she accomplished this one.
The Mission premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. For more of our coverage of the festival, click here.
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