The Mission

The video starts with Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert DeNiro) a European slave trader who supplied areas of South America with “slaves” to work the plantations. Mendoza encounters Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) after Gabriel is sent to take his dead brothers place in converting the native peoples of South America into Christianity. The setting is a subtropical climate somewhere in the Amazon region. After a brief run in between the violent Mendoza and Father Gabriel the movie really takes off the story begins.

When Mendoza kills Father Gabriel’s Brother in a fit of rage he feels extreme guilt toward the missionaries and seeks repentance. After being forgiven by the Jesuits and persecution Mendoza is welcome by the Indians he once enslaved. Next the video portrays the treaty signed between Portugal and Spain that divided up the region where all these missions are actively pursuing. Father Gabriel knows that without the mission there work will go for nothing and they will al become laborers and slaves. He must now impress Altamirano that the mission is worth keeping under the churches protection.

Without conflict there would be no movie so here comes the good stuff.

When Altamirano decides that the priests should leave the Indians and the mission the priests think differently. As a group they decide to stay and disregard the political boundary switch that causes Spain to give up some of its land to Portugal. The Guarini tribal men and the Jesuits decided to stay and defend their home. Than the bullets start to fly when the advancing European army invades their territory and the Jesuits have nothing to fit back with. Although they use their will and their crosses to try and fend back the army the movie ends with a brilliant fight scene that shows some pre-requisite “Gladiator” type fighting and Mendoza plays a key role in the success of the missionaries throughout this video.

The film proved to be an intriguing experience as it left me with many questions as to how humans justify the annihilation of one culture for the sake of another culture. In the back of my head I still remember how one fierce and violent man (Mendoza) can turn around and become the saving grace of this mission. The film had what I consider good cinematography for a movie made in 1986. I am actually intrigued to know more about how Portugal went on after that