The Mission (1986 film)

In the 1750s, Jesuit priest Father Gabriel enters the eastern Paraguayan jungle to convert the Guaraní to Christianity. He sends a priest to make contact with them, but they tie the priest to a cross and send him to his death over the Iguazu Falls. Father Gabriel travels to the falls and plays his oboe. One of the Guaraní breaks the oboe. Father Gabriel does not react and the remaining Guaraní, captivated by the music, take him to their village.

Rodrigo Mendoza kidnaps natives and sells them to plantations, including that of the Spanish Governor Don Cabeza. His fiancée Carlotta confesses that she is in love with his half-brother Felipe. Mendoza finds them in bed and kills Felipe in a duel. He spirals into depression. Father Gabriel challenges Mendoza to do penance. Mendoza accompanies the Jesuits on their return, dragging a bundle containing his armour and sword. The natives recognise their persecutor, but soon forgive a tearful Mendoza, cutting away his heavy bundle. Father Gabriel's mission is depicted as a place of sanctuary and education for the Guaraní. Moved by the Guaraní's acceptance, Mendoza wishes to help and Father Gabriel gives him a Bible. In time, Mendoza takes vows and becomes a Jesuit.

With the protection offered under Spanish law, the Jesuit missions have been safe. The Treaty of Madrid reapportions land on which the missions are located, transferring it to the Portuguese, who allow slavery. The Portuguese seek to enslave the natives and as the Jesuit missions might impede this, Papal emissary Cardinal Altamirano, a Jesuit, is sent to survey the missions and decide which, if any, should be allowed to remain.

Under pressure from both Cabeza and Portuguese representative Hontar, Altamirano is forced to choose between two evils. If he rules in favour of the colonists, the indigenous peoples will become enslaved; if in favour of the missions, the Jesuit Order may be condemned by the Portuguese and the Catholic Church could fracture. Altamirano visits the missions and is amazed at their success in converting the native peoples. At Father Gabriel's mission, he tries to explain the reasons behind closing the missions and instructs the Guaraní that they must leave, because "it is God's will." The Guaraní question this and argue that God's will is to develop the mission. Father Gabriel and Mendoza, under threat of excommunication, state their intention to defend the mission alongside the Guaraní if the plantation owners and colonists attack. They are, however, divided on how to do this. Father Gabriel believes that violence is a direct crime against God. Mendoza decides to break his vows by militarily defending the mission. Against Father Gabriel's wishes, he teaches the Guarani the European art of war and takes up his sword.

When a joint Portuguese and Spanish force attacks, the mission is defended by Mendoza and the Guaraní men. They are no match for the military force. Mendoza is fatally wounded after the soldiers destroy a trap, allowing them to enter the village. The soldiers encounter Father Gabriel leading the Guaraní women and children singing in a religious procession. Father Gabriel carries a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament. Ignoring this, the Spanish commander orders the attack to continue. Father Gabriel, the rest of the priests and most of the Guaraní are gunned down. After Father Gabriel is shot, a Guarani man picks up the Blessed Sacrament and continues leading the procession. A handful of children escapes into the jungle.

In a final exchange between Altamirano and Hontar, Hontar laments, saying what has happened was unfortunate but inevitable: "We must work in the world; the world is thus." Altamirano rejoins: "No, thus have we made the world. Thus have I made it." Days later, a canoe carrying young children returns to the scene of the mission massacre and they salvage a few belongings. They set off up the river, going deeper into the jungle, with the thought that the events will remain in their memories. A final title declares that many priests have continued to fight for the rights of indigenous people into the present day. The text of John 1:5 is displayed: "The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness hath not overcome it."

The Mission is based on events surrounding the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, in which Spain ceded part of Jesuit Paraguay to Portugal. A significant subtext is the impending suppression of the Jesuits, of which Father Gabriel is warned by the film's narrator, Cardinal Altamirano, who is himself a Jesuit. Altamirano, speaking in hindsight in 1758, corresponds to the actual Andalusian Jesuit Father Luis Altamirano, who was sent by Jesuit Superior General Ignacio Visconti to Paraguay in 1752 to transfer territory from Spain to Portugal. He oversaw the transfer of seven missions south and east of the Río Uruguay, that had been settled by Guaraní and Jesuits in the 17th century. As compensation, Spain promised each mission 4,000 pesos, or fewer than 1 peso for each of the approximately 30,000 Guaraní of the seven missions, while the cultivated lands, livestock, and buildings were estimated to be worth 7–16 million pesos. The film's climax is the Guaraní War of 1754–1756, during which historical Guaraní defended their homes against Spanish-Portuguese forces implementing the Treaty of Madrid. For the film, a re-creation was made of one of the seven missions, São Miguel das Missões.[6]

Father Gabriel's character is loosely based on the life of Paraguayan saint and Jesuit Roque González de Santa Cruz. The story is taken from the book The Lost Cities of Paraguay by Father C. J. McNaspy, S.J., who was also a consultant on the film.[7]

The waterfall setting of the film suggests the combination of these events with the story of older missions, founded between 1610 and 1630 on the Paranapanema River above the Guaíra Falls, from which Paulista slave raids forced Guaraní and Jesuits to flee in 1631. The battle at the end of the film evokes the eight-day Battle of Mbororé in 1641, a battle fought on land as well as in boats on rivers, in which the Jesuit-organised, firearm-equipped Guaraní forces stopped the Paulista raiders.[6]

The film was mostly filmed in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The tunnels of Fort Amherst in Kent were used as part of the monastery where Mendoza (Robert De Niro) sequesters himself after murdering his brother.[11]

The soundtrack for The Mission was written by Ennio Morricone. Beginning with a liturgical piece ("On Earth as It Is in Heaven") which becomes the 'Spanish' theme, it moves quickly to the 'Guaraní' theme, which is written in a heavily native style and uses several indigenous instruments. Later, Morricone defines The Mission theme as a duet between the 'Spanish' and "Guaraní" themes. The soundtrack was recorded at CTS Lansdowne Studios in London.

Other themes throughout the movie include the 'Penance', 'Conquest', and 'Ave Maria Guaraní' themes. In the latter, a large choir of indigenous people sing a rendition of the "Ave Maria".

• Iguazu Falls

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