The Mission Movie Essay

1224 Words3 Pages

The historical events represented in this story are true, and occurred around the borderlands of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil in the year 1750, reads the most important line in the 1986 film directed by Roland Joffé, The Mission. The film develops during the Spanish treaty transfers of Brazil to Portugal, resulting in the Treaty of Madrid (1750), ending before the start of the first battle of The Guaraní Wars (1954-1956). The word 'mission' has two meanings—a crusade and a place. Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) leads a religious mission, spreading Catholicism to the Guaraní Indians of Paraguay, and building physical compounds for Indians to worship God. Europeans thought of Indians as the barbaric feeble-minded who, by undergoing a Christian …show more content…

After a successful career in television, Joffé ventured into biographical period films loosely based on true events with the likes of The Manhattan Project, The Civil War in Cambodia, Vatel, and The Killing Fields. Known for filming on location and for using real locals, filming in the Borderlands of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil for The Mission proved no different for Joffé. Kathryn Bigelow, the …show more content…

Mendoza looks to Fr. Gabriel to lead him. Soon, Mendoza and Fr. Gabriel climb Iguaçu Falls bare foot together to the mission. At the top of the waterfalls, Mendoza collapses to the ground, heavy armory in tow. Alarmed by the stranger, some of the Guaraní waved daggers in the air until Fr. Gabriel motioned for the okay. A Guaraní cuts the armory free from Mendoza and tosses it over the waterfall, similar to the crucified priest. Mendoza wails out a cry while the Guaraní once again laugh and smile. Receiving little attention, these marvelous fragments of the film; The Waunana tribe, Iguaçu Falls, and the real-life FBI fugitive, Father Daniel Berrigan. In the film, Fr. Berrigan appears in cameos and doubled as a religious consultant to Joffé. Joffé failed to hire a colonial Latin America consultant. The most dehumanizing scene takes place at the meeting with Cabesa and Altamirano. Put on display, a young Guaraní boy sings ecclesiastical hymns to show his obedience. Cabesa remarks, "Nothing that beautiful can come from a savage!" The boy runs to his savior, Fr. Gabriel, clinging on to his legs and

More about The Mission Movie Essay

Open Document