Who composed the Academy Award-nominated score for the 1986 film The Mission?

Ennio Morricone composed the Academy Award-nominated score for the 1986 film The Mission.

Directed by Roland Joffé, The Mission is a historical drama about Jesuit missionaries working among the Guaraní people in 18th-century South America. The story places religious conviction and cultural conflict against European colonial politics and the Treaty of Madrid.

Morricone’s music combines orchestral writing with choral and indigenous-inspired elements. The score’s best-known cue, “Gabriel’s Oboe,” is associated with Father Gabriel, played by Jeremy Irons. Although the music became highly influential and widely admired, Morricone did not win the Oscar that year.

The Academy Award for Original Score went instead to Herbie Hancock for Round Midnight. That result is a common source of confusion because The Mission won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, and Morricone’s score is often remembered as one of the film’s defining achievements.