The Mission. Directed by Roland Joffé. Burbank, CA. Kingsmere Productions Ltd. 1986.
Summary
In the mid-1700’s Jesuit priests established a mission with a native people group, the Guarani Indians, in South America. The Jesuit Priest, Father Gabriel, headed the mission with the Guarani under the authority of Cardinal Altamirano. The capture and enslavement of the Guarani was becoming a common practice. Captain Rodrigo Mendoza, who was employed as both a mercenary and a slave trader by Don Cabeza, a Portuguese colonist, meets early with Father Gabriel as he captures several of the Guarani taking them back to the city. It is then that Captain Mendoza loses his love interest to his brother, Felipe, and where, after a duel, Mendoza kills him.
His guilt-stricken conscience drives him to a monastery where he meets Father Gabriel who has returned briefly from his mission. Mendoza is advised to do penance to atone for this murder, and to do so, Captain Mendoza drags a large bag of armor through the jungle, following Father Gabriel and two other priests, as they make their way back to the Guarani. Once they reach their destination, Mendoza experiences psychological atonement after a symbolic gesture of forgiveness from the Indians. It will not be long after this that Captain Mendoza takes the Jesuit vow, becoming a Priest and fellow missionary. His time with the Guarani produces a love and concern for the people that is evident onscreen.
After the territory that the Guarani are living in is passed from the protection of Spain to the slave-trading Portuguese, the priests battle with the church and the colonists of Portugal to protect the mission and the Guarani people in their location high above the falls in South America. The fate of the mission lies with Cardinal Altamirano who is visiting the region in order to inspect the different missions within the area; the purpose is to determine the church’s position and protection. It is determined in the end, however, that the church is no match for the Portuguese who, with the allowance of the church, take the land and move in to enslave the native people.
Captain Mendoza, after attempting to renounce his vows, collaborates with the priests, who accompanied Father Gabriel, and many of the Guarani men, to fight off the invading Portuguese. At the close of the film, the native people are brutally enslaved and babies are killed. The Portuguese move into the land of the Guarani, burning their village, killing many men, women and children, and the priests as well. The final scene portrays Mendoza, losing his life, as the other priests have, at the hands of the Portuguese, trying to save the Guarani people.
Historical Context and Accuracy
This film is set within Paraguay in South America during the mid-1700’s when the Treaty of Madrid was signed by Spain and Portugal as an attempt at ending a conflict over disputed land territories. This treaty retracted the old Tordesillas boundary line, formed under the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, and generated new borders between the Spanish and Portuguese. This treaty, however, was never ratified, and was, in fact, repealed in 1761. During this time, beginning in 1750, the Jesuit mission seen in the film now lay in Portuguese territory and, therefore, under Portuguese authority. Their refusal to leave is historically accurate, for in 1754, the Guarani fought against the Spanish and Portuguese influence. Later, in 1761, the Guarani would experience some peace before the year 1767 when the Spanish would force out all of the Jesuit missions in the area.
In the opening scenes of the film the Guarani are seen carrying an unidentified man, strapped to a cross, through the woods towards the falls. The opening scenes are filled with this man being thrown over into the river in, what appears as, a resistance to the missionary endeavors of the priests, though this is not fully explained. Historically, the natives of South America often struggled against the European presence, including those Europeans who were solely religiously minded, at least in the beginning. For the Guarani, their first experience with Europeans was in the mid 1500’s when Paraguay was founded. These first experiences, however, were unpleasant. Subjection to rule and slavery, and the introduction of disease, did not provide an atmosphere of acceptance by the natives. When Jesuit missionaries arrived in the early 1600’s, Franciscan missionaries had been in the area almost thirty years; therefore, a missionary presence had previously been established with some natives understanding the protection that these missionaries could offer them. The ending of this film depicts the Jesuits as disobeying their Cardinal and remaining faithful and protective of the Guarani, while it is heroic, it does not appear to be easy to pinpoint the historic reliability of their actions. While Jesuits certainly did all they could to protect their Indian converts, it is not indicated that they went against the church’s authority.
The Jesuits within Spanish settlements in the Americas were often protective of the human rights and freedoms of the Indians they oversaw. Often, it was at the defense of the Indians by the missionaries that kept Spanish controls at bay. The Guarani, as depicted in the film, were often subjected to slavery and, just as in the film, the Jesuits would move into a territory and establish those mission-villages that the Guarani began to seek for protection as they were hunted and captured. Thousands of native people would seek asylum in these mission areas. Often, however, the hopeful priests, though enforcing religious practice and tradition, were not always satisfied with the conversion of Indians.
This causes reflection on another aspect of the film, it is the depiction of the native people’s celebratory paraphernalia. Though not directly explained in the film, it appears to be an inclusion of old religious artifacts and ceremony. This, too, is a historically truthful depiction of the Indians of South America. Frequently, they would investigate the Catholic religion and come to conversion; however, their culture and native religion was one of accommodating practices and adaptability. Their previous religious beliefs were not as concrete, it appears, as those of Catholicism, and this allowed the amalgamation of religious practice. Often materializing as a combination of pagan spirituality and worship of many gods with the worship of Christ and saints. As was common throughout the centuries with many missionary ventures, the incorporation of many native religious aspects helped the indigenous people understand Christian concepts. To the disappointment of many missionaries, however, many “converts” were not truly converted as pagan beliefs remained and were practiced without a full realization of Christian doctrine and theology. In this film, however, most, if not all, of the native Indians were converted to Christianity.
The transfer of political power, as discussed when the colonist Don Cabeza and Mendoza sit before Cardinal Altamirano to settle who may have right to the land of the Guarani, is a significant backdrop to the film. Historically, the transfer of territorial ownership moved from Spanish to Portuguese control in 1750. The Spanish, though not completely anti-slavery, practiced much reserve and allowed the authority of the Catholic Church to influence their decision making as it concerned the treatment of those native to the land. The Portuguese, by contrast, were pro-slavery and did not restrict their governing decisions by passing them through the Catholic Church as the Spanish had done. This did not mean that the Catholic Church possessed no authority in the area, as this is the purpose of the meeting between the Cardinal, Don Cabeza and Portuguese officials, and the Spanish Jesuits. Due to the interwoven aspects of a yet unratified treaty and religious incorporation of church and government, the meeting of the three authorities is necessary as the colonists of Portugal are eager for the land and people under a governance of legal slave trade, however, the Jesuits held control over the land of Guarani. It was the political decision of the church, as a result of the Treaty of Madrid, that eventually expelled the Jesuits and encouraged the Guarani to leave. The Portuguese would be given the land as a political move by the church for the sake of larger peace.
Wynter Stiles – Liberty University – HIWD 560-D01 – History of the Atlantic World – 2017