Review of The Mission (1986) by Janis A — 12 Jul 2012

A very powerful movie that builds slowly up in pace and strenght and thrives through the exceptional performances of De Niro and Irons. Sadly, the story is a bit difficult to relate to as we live in an atheistic environment, so the Jesuits as the good force is a bit hard to swallow,, as the very essence of.

Missionary work is ambitious and even violent ( not in force, but in brain work). They push the catholic belief onto the Guarani , I see nothing positive in that, even if this particular mission works through music an the love for it...its still brain washing and domination...anyway, the movie is not about the missionarisation, is about the contract of Madrid of 17850 , in which the Portuguiese were granted all the territories around and north of the Guarani falls, and that means slavery for the Guaranis, because Portugal allows slavery, but spain doesnt, because in Spain, the Jesuit order is very powerful ( or used to be very powerful) and that order is completely opposed to slavery. So, the mission of the brother gabriel ( irons) tries to save the Guaranis from slavery by persuading the emissary of the vatican of the wrongfulness of this whole arrangement: Problem: the vatican has already bended the knee to Portugal since the Jesuit order and his interference in policies are no longer welcome and the Pope is thinking about dissoluting the order should the opposition against the treaty be too ardious...

Some Jesuits, not Gabriel though, even pick up the gun in order to fight for the freedom of the Guarani, and an epic battle is about to start.....

Based on true historic events that ocurred in ecuador and venezuala in the 18th century, Roland joffé clearly sympathizes with the Jesuit order and its opposition to slavery. In fact, the order even acoomodates to the south american life-style and its closeness to nature. The christian belief is brought to the Guarani in its purest, most archaic form, which is easy to accomodate to for the tribes of the amazon. The missions of the Guarani therefore appear as havens of peacefulness and beauty, remote from the modern world and building an universe on its own, a true garden Eden. The viewer ( like the emissary) is drawn into this pèaceful place and automatically , th eportuguiese merchants are demonised in their attempt to properly colonize the wild nature and people of the Guarani falls.