Page 388 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

FILM HISTORY
The Mission (1986)
DIRECTED BY ROLAND JOFF􏰁E, The Mission
examines religion, politics, and colonialism
in Europe and South America in the mid-
eighteenth century. The movie begins
with a flashback as Cardinal Altamirano
(Ray McAnally) is dictating a letter to the
pope to discuss the fate of the Jesuit
missions in Paraguay. He begins by
describing the establishment of a new
Jesuit mission (San Carlos) in Spanish
territory in the borderlands of Paraguay
and Brazil. Father Gabriel ( Jeremy Irons)
has been able to win over the Guaran􏰁ı
Indians and create a community based on
communal livelihood and property
(private property has been abolished).
The mission includes dwellings for the
Guaran􏰁ı and a church where they can
practice their new faith by learning the
Gospel and singing hymns. This small
band of Jesuits is joined by Rodrigo
Mendozo (Robert De Niro), who has been a slave trader dealing in Indians and now seeks to atone for killing his brother in a fit of jealous rage by joining the community at San Carlos. Won over to Father Gabriel’s perspective, he also becomes a member of the Jesuit order.
Cardinal Altamirano now travels to the New World, sent by a pope anxious to appease the Portuguese monarch over the activities of the Jesuits. Portuguese settlers in Brazil are eager to use the native people as slaves and to confiscate their communal lands and property. In 1750, when Spain agrees to turn over the Guaran􏰁ı territory in Paraguay to Portugal, they seize their opportunity. Although the cardinal visits a number of missions, including that of San Carlos, and obviously approves of their accomplishments, his hands are tied by the Portuguese king, who is threatening to disband the Jesuit order if the missions are not closed. The cardinal acquiesces, and Portuguese troops are sent to take over the missions. Although Rodrigo and the other Jesuits join the natives in fighting the Portuguese while Father Gabriel refuses to fight, all are massacred. The cardinal returns to Europe, dismayed by the murderous
The Jesuit missionary Father Gabriel ( Jeremy Irons) with the Guaran􏰁ı Indians of Paraguay before their slaughter by Portuguese troops.
activities of the Portuguese but hopeful that the Jesuit order will be spared. All is in vain, however, as the Catholic monarchs of Europe expel the Jesuits from their countries and pressure Pope Clement XIV into disbanding the Jesuit order in 1733.
In its approach to the destruction of the Jesuit missions, The Mission clearly exalts the dedication of the Jesuit order and praises the missionaries’ devotion to the welfare of the Indians. The movie ends with a small group of Guaran􏰁ı children, now all orphans, picking up a few remnants of debris left in their destroyed mission and moving off down the river back into the wilderness to escape enslavement. The final words on the screen illuminate the movie’s message about the activities of the Europeans who destroyed the native civilizations in their conquest of the Americas: “The Indians of South America are still engaged in a struggle to defend their land and their culture. Many of the priests who, inspired by faith and love, continue to support the rights of the Indians, do so with their lives,” a reference to the ongoing struggle in Latin America against the regimes that continue to oppress the landless masses.
350 Chapter 14 Europe and the World: New Encounters, 1500–1800
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
a Warner Brothers/Courtesy The Everett Collection, Inc.