Product Details

• Actors: Tom Berenger, John Lithgow, Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn, Tom Waits
• Directors: Hector Babenco
• Writers: Hector Babenco, Jean-Claude Carrière, Peter Matthiessen
• Producers: David Nichols, Francisco Ramalho Jr., Paul Zaentz, Saul Zaentz
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• Run Time: 189 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005JMHJ
• For more information about "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

Missionaries travel to the Brazilian rain forest and make a mess of everything. What else is new? Actually, plenty in this dark but beautifully realized adaptation of Peter Matthiessen's well-regarded novel, directed by Hector Babenco. Aidan Quinn, Daryl Hannah, Kathy Bates, and John Lithgow play the Americans who travel to the Brazilian interior in an effort to do some good. But their definitions of good vary wildly; Bates and Lithgow are old-fashioned puritans who want to convert the heathens to Christianity and remove all traces of their own culture. Quinn and Hannah are more spiritually minded, hoping to make a connection and a cultural exchange with the Indians they encounter. In the end, they're all delusional, trapped in their own preconceptions. Downbeat but magical in its way, with sterling performances all around and amazing scenery, to say the least. --Marshall Fine

From The New Yorker

Hector Babenco's film, which is based on Peter Matthiessen's 1965 novel of the same name, feels lifeless right from the start, and it perks up only occasionally in the course of the three hours and ten minutes it takes to tell its story. The movie is set in the Amazon bASIN, and it's about the destruction of an Indian tribe by a combination of capitalist greed (in the form of the local authorities) and cultural insensitivity (in the form of Protestant missionaries from America). Matthiessen's epic may have held some surprises for its mid-sixties readers, but its ideas have since lost a lot of their power and all their freshness. The dramatic conflicts aren't very complex, and most of the characters are one-dimensional, instantly readable. Yet Babenco treats every scene as if it contained infinite riches: he draws out simple actions, reiterates obvious ideas, lingers on the faces of characters who have no more secrets to yield up. Among the actors-a high-powered group that includes John Lithgow, Tom Berenger, Kathy Bates, and Daryl Hannah-only Aidan Quinn, as a young missionary who learns to respect the Indians' culture, comes through at all. An air of fatigue and defeat pervades the picture. The efforts that Babenco and his actors have put into dramatizing this material is heartbreakingly apparent, yet, no matter how hard they work, the scenes refuse to play, and the movie never manages to generate any real momentum. It's an honest, well-intentioned flop. Screenplay by Babenco and Jean-Claude Carrière. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visually stunning epic, June 15, 2001

By 

Jason R Blalack (Brick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Play in the Fields of the Lord [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Hector Babenco and Saul Zaentz have constructed a beautiful adaptation of Peter Matthiessen's novel of the same name. The american actors used are magnificent with the exception of Tom Waits who looks the part but doesn't quite get it right - this is especially evident when he is speaking to Moon over the radio. The native amazonians used are the real deal - Babenco recruited at least 10 different tribes to serve as actors and this authenticity really shows. The rituals performed are highly authentic esp. the use of epene snuff and ayahuasca. The communal housing for the tribe is wonderfully filmed - you feel as if you are really there with the sounds of the instruments and the smell of foods.

I was really pleased with how well the movie stays true to the novel of course some parts are omitted - especially alot in the town of Mae de Deus but then again that would have made this a six hour flick.

A word of caution for those who have not seen this before - This film portrays the indigenous people accurately - there is alot and I mean alot of nudity - if you aren't able to handle other cultures that don't have the hang-ups over nudity as we do (and live in a sweltering jungle of 100+ degrees and 100% humidity) then by all means see this. This is not child porn as some others hint at it being - this is a film of people (these are the real natives) at one with nature and the havoc that is created when the modern world is forced on them, a real morality play, truly sad. I made this movie a must see for my teenage daughters and it is one of my favorite films and novels of all time - a true masterpiece, I rank it right up there with Bergman's "The Seventh Seal".

This is a film that needs to be released on DVD (which I have written to Universal numerous times requesting) - An anamorphic transfer of 2.35 x 1 is necessary for the splendor of the scenery of the jungle, the other things that I would like to see would be 5.1 & DTS sound, and at least a commentary from Babenco.

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WHERE IS THE DVD?, April 16, 2005

By 

LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Play in the Fields of the Lord [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This great film has been extensively reviewed on this website and for good reason--perfect casting, terrific acting, gripping story, intelligent dialogue, superior production. What more can you ask for?

The DVD has been 'hinted at' for well over a year. WHERE IS IT? How can a film this great not have a DVD release, ESPECIALLY WHEN this website has been indicating for a VERY long time that it will be out on DVD?

Kathy Bates as the wife of a missionary who goes loco (that is, she does, not the missionary). Darryl Hannah as another wife of a missionary who's more than intrigued by the native Amazon culture--in particular when she's approached by Tom Berenger, former small craft pilot, who's undergone a startling transformation. Even Tom Waits in a small part is great. John Lithgow and Aidan Quinn as the two missionaries supply the right chemistry to exacerbate the tension that drives this story with a momentum that does not let up.

This is a near-perfect film. SO WHERE IS THE DVD?

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A journey worth taking., September 26, 2005

By 

Whiteseagull (British Columbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Play in the Fields of the Lord [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I originally saw this film when it was first released and it stuck with me. I recently saw it for the second time and it was better. The film is so sad but riveting when misguided missionaries head into the Amazon jungle to Christianize the native tribes. This story has been played out around the world for centuries and it's probably still going on with fundamentalist religious fanatics who feel the need to change others by destroying their cultures. In some ways, it's a fantasy theme of opportunities and possibilities being demonized by the personalities who created them. Christianity is a great message but it's terribly abused by the few who create such hate and leave such damage in it's name.

This is a fine film that takes you on a journey into the jungles of South America. It's so realistic that you feel you are there with them. A journey worth taking.

A fine cast actors: Tom Berenger, Aidan Quinn, John Lythgow, Kathy Bates and Daryl Hannah supported by a group of Amazonian tribes. Of course the great scenery of Amazonia itself is a major and a magnificent character.