I wish I could tell you that The Missionary was yet another film I regretted not seeing for years, but I can't. It's not a terrible film, and features a cast all being a lot of fun in their various roles, but it's not quite as good as I had hoped it would be.
Michael Palin plays Fortescue, a man of the cloth who returns to England and the love and kindness of his fiance, Deborah (Phoebe Nicholls). He still wants to do good work though, and soon ends up tasked by a Bishop (Denholm Elliott) to create a charitable home for the purpose of helping and rehabilitating prostitutes. Fortescue has to secure funding, which puts him in the sights of Lady Ames (Maggie Smith) and her husband (Trevor Howard), and he also ends up offering the women comfort in ways that would surely be frowned upon by the church.
Loosely based on the life of Reverend Harold Francis Davidson, aka the "prostitutes' padre", The Missionary has Palin also on board as a writer, and Richard Loncraine in the director's chair. Neither seem quite able to decide exactly the tone they want to go for, which leads to only a few scenes working as well as they should. This is a character piece, and Fortescue is fun to watch as he wrestles with his conscience, decides what ends up being the best way to help others, and gets himself further and further into a big mess that seems likely to prove his undoing at any minute. Loncraine doesn't make the best use of his talented cast, especially when there are people like Timothy Spall and Sophie Thompson in very small roles, but there is a lovely attention to period detail throughout that makes up for some of the less entertaining moments.
Palin is very enjoyable in the lead role, all sweet innocence and good intentions. If he'd given himself a better script to work with then this could have easily been one of his best works. Smith is also very good, especially as she continues to create reasons for Fortescue to have to stay under her roof for a night she plans to make the most of. Howard and Elliott are as enjoyable as expected, Michael Hordern is a delightfully forgetful butler, and David Suchet does well in his feature debut, although his character only makes a few brief appearances in the back end of the film. Nicholls is sadly underused, as are those I mentioned earlier, and there's a disappointing lack of main characters from the selection of "fallen women" who end up around our lead.
There's certainly enough to appreciate here, especially if you're a fan of Palin and Smith. There's just not quite enough to make it fully work as either a drama or a gentle comedy, with the end result landing a bit awkwardly in between the two. It's also a shame that there doesn't seem to be any sharpness to what could have been a real exploration of morality, rehabilitation, and the role that the church tries to hold within many communities. There are a few points raised as things muddle along from the start to the finish, but nothing that really sticks with you once the end credits roll. In fact, I'd say that the best thing about the movie is how it can then lead you to read up on the extraordinary life, and strange end, of the "prostitute's padre".
Often as pleasant and harmless as the central character, The Missionary should prove slightly disappointing to those wanting something (anything) more than a nice-looking distraction to take up 90 minutes of their day.
5/10
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