Sadly Over-hyped

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The time is during the Depression Thirties and some new Protestant missionaries are coming to an area way up in the Amazon headwaters where only 20 years earlier, a former American president named Theodore Roosevelt nearly lost his life exploring some of this very area. With a positive attitude born of faith and a certain smugness because the previous Christian missionaries there, the Roman Catholics have given the place up, the group goes into the jungle. The trip changes all of them and not for the better.One of the catalysts of change is Tom Berenger who plays a half American Indian pilot/adventurer living in one of the last settlements containing some of civilizations amenities. The Brazilian government wants him to drop some bombs on a tribe called the Niruna who are sitting on some valuable land. Gold is reported there and to a country like Brazil which was still in a frontier stage just like America was in the previous century it can mean jobs and prosperity. Not for the Niruna who are hunters and gatherers from the stone age. Of course if the missionaries can covert the Niruna and persuade them to go than annihilation won't be necessary. It's why the government is so accommodating to the Protestants. The evangelical team consists of married couples John Lithgow and Darryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn and Kathy Bates. Missionaries have played a double edged role when dealing with the non-Christian world. No doubt they are the most insidious of culture destroyers, yet in many cases they've put themselves on the line to prevent some of the worst depravities that civilization brings.John Lithgow and Aidan Quinn offer two contrasting examples. Lithgow just hasn't a clue as to what's happening here. He just sees a group of converts aching for Christianity. When the natives don't live up to his expectations, he takes it rather personally.Aidan Quinn is filled with same missionary zeal and he suffers the cruelest loss in the film when his and Bates's child dies of blackwater fever. Yet when the time comes Quinn steps up to the plate and he and Berenger form an unlikely alliance on behalf of the Niruna.You have to be made of stone to not be emotionally moved by the death of the child. In fact he turns out to be the best missionary tool they have. With his childhood innocence he bonds with the native kids in a way the grownups are incapable of. Too much of civilization's baggage to unload. Maybe the missionaries should have remembered all those gospel verses about little children. They seem to fit here.At Play in the Fields of the Lord is one powerful film. Shot on location in the Amazon headwaters by acclaimed Brazilian director Hector Babenco, it's got a powerful message for today's world, poised on the brink of religious war. Babenco did the film Pixote a decade earlier which was a view of Brazil from a different angle. This time with gorgeous color photography and some professional actors in his ranks, he's created a masterpiece that ought to be required viewing for policy makers in all parts of the globe

Does anyone know where I can buy this movie? I believe it is still only available in VHS.Please feel free to contact me if you know where I can purchase this movie, or if you have one for sale yourself. Does anyone know where I can buy this movie? I believe it is still only available in VHS.Please feel free to contact me if you know where I can purchase this movie, or if you have one for sale yourself. Does anyone know where I can buy this movie? I believe it is still only available in VHS.Please feel free to contact me if you know where I can purchase this movie, or if you have one for sale yourself. Does anyone know where I can buy this movie? I believe it is still only available in VHS.Please feel free to contact me if you know where I can purchase this movie, or if you have one for sale yourself.

Its an excellent movie. Films made in the jungle or in forrested regions that contain creeks, waterfalls, rivers, ponds or lakes, always make me feel better just to be watching them. In this movie all criteria have been met. You have a bunch of missionaries on a quest to convert the Indians of the amazon. An Indian who has left his native people long ago and now wishes to return. Evil men who are hoping for a land grab for financial reasons, and absolutely beautiful scenery as you travel up the amazon and into the jungle. My only complaint would be not enough nudity. General nudity (in my opinion), not having anything at all to do with suggested sexual content, can be quite beautiful and natural. I would like to see more movies made like "At Play..." The director really knew what he was doing. The film portrays real life events whether fiction or non-fiction about the feelings and lives of individuals in circumstances of the choices they've made or had forced upon them. If you haven't seen it, you really should. Films like "Emerald Forrest" or "Madita" are other films I would recommend.

I viewed this on cable 3 years ago when seeing that it was going to be shown the same night I saw the ad. I had heard of this film,briefly,but never knew what it was about. After watching from start to finish I can honestly say,bravo! Bravo for it's fine acting,it's scenery and it's truthful depiction of life as the Native's know it.Every actor,including the young extras,does a superb job. Cathy Bates' performance was the stuff Oscar wins are made from. John Lithgow (5 years before 3rd Rock From The Sun) reminds us why he was a movie actor first,before doing a series.Some folks,I know,have trouble or are uncomfortable with the nudity shown in the film. In this day and age it takes a smart,responsible parent to explain the reasons for this being in the film to any child watching. If your concerns are that great,you should wait until your child is older to see this.If you want to be honest as you can,the best thing you can say is,"that's just how things are where those tribal people live". There's a great difference ladies & gentlemen between what's shown here and straight out child exploitation for devious purposes.The scenes depict how the young boy in the movie wants to fit in with the other boys (as we all want to fit in with others here at home)in his new jungle home. Since this is their custom there,the boy does this to be "one of them" and not be felt an outcast.In my own personal view,anyone who has a problem with "simple,non--sexual" nudity,has no right calling themselves "grown-up".Once again,if you view this with your children,be fully ready to explain things they may not understand. Otherwise,let them grow up a little and then maybe you can all watch this masterpiece together.(END)