The Mission

Your Holiness, the little matter that brought me here

to the furthest edge of your light on earth is now settled...

and the Indians are once more free to be enslaved

by the Spanish and Portuguese settlers.

I don't think I'm setting the right note.

Begin again.

Your Holiness, I write to you in this year of our Lord, 1758

from the southern continent of the Americas,

from the town of Asuncion in the province of La Plata,

two weeks' march from the great mission of San Miguel.

These missions have provided a refuge for the Indians

against the worst depredations of the settlers

and have earned much resentment because of it.

The noble souls of these Indians incline towards music.

Indeed, many a violin played in the academies of Rome itself

has been made by their nimble and gifted hands.

It was from these missions

the Jesuit fathers carried the word of God

to the high and undiscovered plateau,

to those Indians still existing in their natural state

and received in return... martyrdom.

(THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE)

The death of this priest

was to form the first link in the chain

of which I now find myself a part.

Continue.

As Your Holiness undoubtedly knows,

little in this world unfolds as we predict.

Indeed, how could the Indians have supposed

that the death of that unsung priest

would bring among them a man whose life

was to become inextricably intertwined with their own?

Thank you, Father.

It was our territory.

Julien's and mine.

I sent him, Father.

I have to go up there myself.

Do you see him?

No.

(BIRD SCREECHES)

(HE PLAYS AN EASY TUNE)

(TWIG SNAPS)

(NATIVE LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN)

(THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

With an orchestra,

the Jesuits could have subdued the whole continent.

So it was that the Indians of the Guarani

were brought finally to account

to the everlasting mercy of God

and to the short-lived mercy of man.

(He SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

Aah!

(THEY SHOUT IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

Who are you?

So you're hunting above the falls now, Captain Mendoza.

We're building a mission here.

We're going to make Christians

of these people.

If you have the time.

Manuel!

Manuel!

Manuel!

It's your brother.

(HAMMERING ON METAL)

Alonzo, are they healthy?

Excellent!

Good.

Are there many above the falls?

Yes.

Dangerous?

Yes.

Not against powder and shot?

I've seen Jesuits there.

Above the falls?

Yes.

Damn it.

The mission's to be called San Carlos.

Cabeza.

Mendoza.

Alonzo!

Alonzo!

Take them away.

Quickly.

Quickly, now.

Well, then, you should find yourself a good woman.

I have. You haven't.

If you had, you wouldn't look so gloomy.

Maybe you're right.

About women I'm always right. You know that.

How could I forget?

Because you forget everything.

Oh, I do, do I?

Yes, you do.

Easy.

Good.

I got to admit...

good.

Good.

Whoa.

Ah! Ah!

Hello!

Good.

Excellent. Take them off.

Ah!

You distract too easily.

On the day the senorita can't distract my attention,

I'll become a monk.

On that day, Felipe,

half the ladies in this town will become nuns.

Pure gossip. Rodrigo is the ladies' man.

-Rodrigo here is

-this

-lady's man.

Ahem.

Felipe?

I love him, Rodrigo.

Since when have you loved Felipe?

Six months.

Six...?

I've been trying to tell you.

I have.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

You have been trying to tell me.

Uh-huh.

So me you do not love?

Not as I love Felipe.

Rodrigo, that's the love that I need.

I see.

And so I have no need?

You need so much.

You deserve so much.

Rodrigo, you won't hurt him, will you?

No, I won't hurt him.

(MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PLAY)

Carlotta!

Carlotta!

(CONVERSATION UNDER CROWD NOISE)

(DOOR BURSTS OPEN)

Rodrigo!

Rodrigo!

Rodrigo, please.

That's what I told him.

Good. Ha ha ha!

You laughed.

I did not laugh at you.

Most certainly you laughed.

Rodrigo, please.

At whom did you laugh?

Rodrigo, don't do this.

Rodrigo! Quarrel with me!

Uh!

Oh! No!

(SOBBING) Oh, no!

(SOBBING)

So how goes it

at your mission above the falls?

Insects and pigs, Father.

No converts?

A few.

And many near to it, thank the Lord.

Thank the Lord, indeed.

You know Rodrigo Mendoza?

Yes, I know him.

Come with me.

I have a task for you,

and I think you're the only one who can do it.

He's been here for six months,

but he won't see anybody.

I think he wants to die.

So...

you killed your brother?

It was a duel,

and the law can't touch you.

Is this remorse?

Leave...

priest.

Maybe you wish I was your executioner.

Perhaps that would be easier.

Leave me alone.

You know what I am.

Yes.

You're a mercenary,

you're a slave trader,

and you killed your brother.

I know.

And you loved him.

Although you chose a strange way to show it.

Are you laughing at me?

Are you laughing at me?

I'm laughing at you.

Because what I see is laughable.

I see a man running away,

a man hiding from the world.

I see a coward.

Go on.

Go on.

So is that it?

Is this how you mean to go on?

There is nothing else.

There is life.

There is no life.

There is a way out, Mendoza.

For me, there is no redemption.

God gave us the burden of freedom.

You chose your crime.

Do you have the courage to choose your penance?

Do you dare do that?

There is no penance hard enough for me.

-But do you dare

-try

-it?

-Do

-I

-dare?

Do you dare to see it fail?

The soul of Christ, strengthen us.

The body of Christ, stay with us.

The blood of Christ, fill our veins...

How long must he carry that stupid thing?

God knows, Father.

Oh, here.

Thank you.

Father.

He's done this penance long enough,

and, well, the other brothers think the same.

-But

-he

-doesn't think so, John.

And until he does, neither do I.

We're not the members of a democracy, Father.

We're members of an order.

(HE SHOUTS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SHOUTS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE RESPONDS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SHOUTS ORDER IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SOBS)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(SHOUTING IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(WARTHOG SQUEALS)

(HE SPEAKS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

No.

No.

(BOY SPEAKS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE RESPONDS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(CHILDREN SHOUT)

Thank you.

Thank you, Lord, for our food

and all your other blessings.

Amen.

Oh, good Lord. Ooh.

(HE COUGHS)

Did you cook this?

Yes.

Did you put in all the chillies?

I'm afraid I did.

I'm sorry. I was trained as a mercenary,

not as a cook.

This is true. It's dreadful.

The bread is good.

The bread's not bad.

Father, I want to thank you

for having me here.

You should thank the Guarani.

How?

Read this.

"Though I have all faith

"so that I could remove mountains,

"and have not love, I am nothing.

"And though I bestow all my goods

"to feed the poor,

"and though I give my body to be burned,

"and have not love,

"it profiteth me nothing.

"Love suffereth long,

"and is kind.

"Love envieth not.

"Love vaunteth not itself,

is not puffed up.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child,

"I understood as a child,

"I thought as a child.

"But when I became a man,

"I put away childish things.

"But now abideth faith, hope, love,

"these three.

"But the greatest of these is love."

They've agreed.

If you're going to become a Jesuit,

you have to accept my orders

as if they were the orders

of a commander in chief.

Can you do that?

Yes, Father.

Let us pray with our brother Rodrigo.

Christ our king,

you led Father Ignatius

to renounce the snares of this world

and to put on the livery

of labour and humiliation.

Now we ask your blessing on Rodrigo

as we welcome him with all our hearts

into our community.

Teach him to be generous,

to labour and not to count the cost,

to serve with no reward,

save the doing of your will.

Amen.

Amen.

Welcome home, brother.

(APPLAUSE)

'This seeking to create a paradise on earth...

'how easily it offends.

'Your Holiness is offended

'because it may distract from that paradise

'which is to come hereafter.

'Their majesties of Spain and Portugal are offended

'because the paradise of the poor

'is seldom pleasing to those who rule over them.

'And the settlers here are offended

'for the same reason.

'So it was this burden I carried to South America...

'to satisfy the Portuguese wish to enlarge their empire,

'to satisfy the Spanish desire

'that this would do them no harm,

'to satisfy Your Holiness

'that these monarchs of Spain and Portugal

'would threaten no more the power of the Church,

'and to ensure for you all that the Jesuits here

'could no longer deny you these satisfactions.'

I spend half my life waiting for Rome.

Stop playing with that!

What time is it?

Calm down.

It's ten to.

Ah!

Let me see how the children are doing.

Good.

You take four.

39.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

Over there, please.

Those are Guarani?

Yes, Your Eminence.

Extraordinary.

What?

Very difficult to tell what they're thinking.

Have you found this, Senor Hontar?

I had exactly the same reaction

when I first came here, Your Eminence.

Pretty creature.

She'll fetch a lot of money in the streets of Lisbon.

Yes. Well, perhaps she doesn't want to go

to the streets of Lisbon.

Perhaps not.

Well, Your Eminence, as to the missions...

I take it we expect no political difference

between the Papacy and Spain and Portugal?

Why should there be?

Between ourselves, Your Eminence,

the Jesuits are much too powerful here.

Indeed.

Well, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen.

Your eminence. Your eminence.

By the way, gentlemen...

I myself was a Jesuit once.

So I had arrived in South America,

my head replete with the matters of Europe.

But I soon began to understand,

for the first time,

what a strange world I had been sent to judge.

(HE SINGS HYMN IN LATIN)

Don Cabeza, how can you possibly

refer to this child as an animal?

A parrot can be taught to sing, Your Eminence.

Ah, yes.

But how does one teach it to sing

as melodiously as this?

Your Eminence.

This is a child of the jungle,

an animal with a human voice.

If it were human,

an animal would cringe at its vices.

These creatures are lethal

and lecherous.

They will have to be subdued by the sword

and brought to profitable labour by the whip.

What they say is sheer nonsense.

(APPLAUSE)

Your Eminence, Father Gabriel

of the mission of San Carlos,

from which the boy comes.

And that is where?

That is here, Your Eminence,

above the falls, in Spanish territory.

I know. That is territory

which used to be Spanish, Father.

Now it's Portuguese.

Surely that is what His Eminence is here to decide,

Your Excellency.

No, that is a State matter.

It was decided by the Treaty of Madrid

and concluded by their majesties

of Spain and Portugal.

But surely the missions will still remain

under the protection of the Church?

Ah, now, that is what His Eminence

is here to decide, Father Gabriel.

Continue, Father.

Your Eminence, below the falls,

the jungle, if it has to be divided,

may be divided between the Spanish

and the Portuguese as you have agreed,

but in reality, above the falls,

it still belongs to God and the Guarani.

There's no one else there.

And they are not naturally animal.

They are naturally spiritual.

Spiritual?!

They kill their own young!

That is true.

May I answer that?

Every man and woman is allowed one child.

If a third is born, it is immediately killed.

But this is not some animal rite.

It's a necessity for survival.

They can only run with one child apiece.

And what do they run from?

They run from us.

That is, they run from slavery.

Slavery? Rubbish.

It is well known...

Rubbish!

Your Eminence!

The slave trade...

Your Eminence! Rubbish.

Rubbish!

Your Eminence...

Silence!

Your Eminence.

In the territories covered by Spain,

there is no slavery.

That institution, however, is permitted

in the territories of our excellent neighbours,

the Portuguese,

and is, to my mind, much misunderstood.

But here, here in Spanish territory,

we conduct our plantation in strict accordance

with the laws of Spain

and the precepts of the Church.

That is a lie.

That is a lie!

(MURMURING)

I cannot and will not accept a challenge

from a monk.

His cloth protects him.

My cloth protects you, Senor Cabeza.

In the name of the King,

whose dignity I represent,

I demand an apology!

I want an apology, now!

Damn you! I won't stand for this!

Your Eminence.

I think we've just seen a good example

of Jesuit contempt for the authority of the State.

A member of your community, Father Gabriel?

Yes.

Come.

That was perfect.

What?

That little flash of Jesuit temper

was just the thing we needed His Eminence to see.

What do you mean?

Be patient, will you?

All we need is a little patience.

He knows what to do.

You will apologise to His Excellency Don Cabeza.

But, Your Eminence, what he said was a lie.

Silence! You will apologise.

Go now.

What was he before he joined you?

A mercenary and a slave trader,

Your Eminence.

Will he apologise?

Yes, he will.

Your Eminence, you should know

-that the Spanish

-do

-have slaves here.

They buy them from the Portuguese,

amongst others.

And Don Cabeza...

connives at this?

Yes.

And profits by it, too.

Don Cabeza wants the mission territories

to be taken over by the Portuguese.

Why?

Because the missions are the only sanctuary left

for the Guarani.

Without the shelter we provide under the laws of Spain,

the Indians have no protection against slavery.

But the moment they come to us of their own free will...

Truly?

Ask them. Ask the Guarani.

9/10 of what they earn

goes back into the community,

-into

-their

-lives.

Father Gabriel, what do you think

is at issue here?

I think the work of God is at issue here.

No, what is at issue here

is the very existence of the Jesuit order,

both here and in Europe.

And I assure you, Father Gabriel,

that the courts of Europe

are a jungle in comparison

with which your jungle here

is a well-kept garden.

But, Your Eminence, is that to stand in our way?

Thank you.

(THUNDER)

But why must I apologise? Why?

Because I order it.

Why? It was a lie.

Nevertheless,

I order it.

Don Cabeza hates the Jesuits and he hates the Indians.

He's ruthless. The Portuguese are ruthless.

Can't you see that?!

Of course I can see that.

Well, then, why must I apologise?

What better excuse can we give them

but that one of our order, albeit a novice,

publicly insults one of them?

-Now, you

-will

-apologise.

Or are you no longer a Jesuit?

Your Eminence, by order of holy obedience,

humbly and without reservation,

I ask Don Cabeza to pardon my presumption

and my insolence.

Well...

I accept.

Why not?

But as I said before,

I cannot accept a challenge from a priest.

True.

Which makes my insolence all the more insolent

and your pardon twice as gracious.

Your Eminence, I ask your pardon, too.

I ask the pardon of this assembly,

I ask for the pardon of my brothers,

and I ask for your pardon...

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

For insulting His Excellency.

Thank you. That will do.

Well, that was most gratifying, Your Eminence.

Now, do you think

you could tell us something about your attitude

to the transference of the missions' territories?

Precisely.

I have, of course,

kept these matters in the forefront of my mind

ever since I came here,

but I do not think

that I should make a final decision

until I have seen these mission territories

with my own eyes.

There are numerous missions that I should inspect,

but I have decided

that I shall begin with the oldest...

the great mission of San Miguel.

Your Holiness,

a surgeon, to save the body,

must often hack off a limb,

but in truth,

nothing had prepared me

for the beauty and the power

of the limb that I had come here to sever.

(BELL RINGS)

(THEY SING HYMN IN LATIN)

Very impressive.

Perhaps I'm missing something.

I can't see any difference

between this plantation and my own.

That is the difference. This plantation is theirs.

Your Eminence.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

This is another difference.

A runaway slave,

bought by a Spanish settler

from a slave trader.

I see.

Is that lawful?

Supply and demand is the law of trade.

And the law of souls?

What's a few cuts across the back

compared with what you offer them...

the torments of hell, imprisoned souls?

Think of that, Your Eminence.

Well, Father Ibaye, shall we continue?

What was your income last year, Father?

Last year?

120,000 escudos.

And how was it distributed?

It is shared among them equally.

This is a community.

Ah, yes.

There is a French radical group

that teaches that doctrine.

Your Eminence,

it was the doctrine of the early Christians.

Well, I am inexpressibly impressed

by your achievement, Father.

And will that save us?

I hope it may, Father.

The court of Portugal is atheistic,

but you and I are Christian Catholics,

and you additionally serve a Christian king.

Oh, come, come, Your Eminence. I also serve a Catholic king.

Effectively, you serve the Marquis of Pombal,

who is insanely hostile to the Church

and unfortunately rules your King.

I suggest that you and I together

advise your King to postpone

the transfer of the mission territories

until we get guarantees from the Portuguese

for their survival.

And I suggest we do this in the hope of heaven

through the intercession of our merciful redeemer.

In my opinion,

and I say this in the hope of heaven,

the work of the missions is the work of the devil!

They teach contempt for property and lawful profit,

and they're disobedient to the King's authority.

The paramount vow of a Jesuit, Don Cabeza,

is the vow of obedience.

Then let them obey. Tell them, Your Eminence!

Your Eminence.

Am I disturbing you?

I fear I have bad tidings from the Marquis of Pombal.

Between ourselves,

I should like to express my personal regret.

He's determined to destroy

the power of the Church.

And your Christian community

is commercially competitive.

Yes.

It's very prosperous.

Isn't that precisely why you want to take it over?

Well...

you should have achieved a noble failure

if you wanted the approval of the State.

There's nothing we like better

than a noble failure.

It's deeply reassuring to a trading nation

such as my own.

You're not going to read it?

I don't need to read it to know what it contains.

So what will you do?

As my conscience dictates.

What else?

He's been in there five hours.

Come with me to my mission in San Carlos.

There are so many distractions here.

It's hard to see anything clearly.

I think that there

your prayers might bring better fortune.

I think there God would...

tell you what it would be good to do...

and give you the strength and the grace to do it.

Whatever it cost you.

(SHOUTING)

(CREAKING)

The garden of Eden.

It's a trifle overgrown.

(APPLAUSE)

(DRUMS, PIPE MUSIC PLAY)

(MUSIC STOPS, SINGING HYMN)

(SINGING HYMN)

(HE ASKS QUESTION IN SPANISH)

(HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH)

Though I knew that everywhere in Europe

states were tearing at the authority of the Church,

and though I knew well that to preserve itself there

the Church must show its authority

over the Jesuits here,

I still couldn't help wondering whether these Indians

would not have preferred that the sea and wind

had not brought any of us to them.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

They say they don't understand what you mean.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

They want you to speak more clearly.

What is it exactly you want them to do?

They must leave the mission.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(MURMURING)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

They say they don't want to leave the mission.

The mission is their home.

They must learn to submit to the will of God.

Tell them.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE REPLIES IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

They say it was the will of God

that they came out of the jungle

and built the mission.

They don't understand why God has changed his mind.

I cannot hope

to understand God's reasons.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE REPLIES IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

He says, how does he know you know God's will?

He doesn't think you speak for God.

He thinks you speak for the Portuguese.

I do not personally speak for God,

but I do speak for the Church,

which is God's instrument on earth.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

He says why don't you speak to the King of Portugal?

I have spoken to the King of Portugal.

He will not listen.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

He says he is also a king.

He also will not listen.

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

He says they were wrong ever to have trusted us.

They are going to fight.

Well, then, you must persuade them not to fight.

I have failed to persuade you to fight on their behalf.

If they do fight,

it is absolutely imperative that no one of you

should even seem to have encouraged them to do so.

And therefore, all of you will return with me

to Asuncion tomorrow.

If anyone should disobey this,

he will be excommunicated, cut off, cast out.

Why must they fight?

Why can't they return to the jungle?

Because this is their home.

Did you know this was going to be your decision?

Yes.

Then why did you come, Your Eminence?

To persuade you not to resist

the transfer

of the mission territories.

If the Jesuits resist the Portuguese,

then the Jesuit Order

will be expelled from Portugal.

And if Portugal,

then Spain, France, Italy, who knows?

If your order is to survive at all, Father,

the missions here must be sacrificed.

(THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE)

What were they saying?

They said they didn't want to go back to the forest

because the devil lives there.

They want to stay here.

And what did you say?

I said I'd stay with them.

(THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE)

I want to renounce my vows of obedience.

Get out.

I want to...

Get out, Rodrigo.

I won't listen to you.

Just you?

No, it's... Rolf and John, too.

What do you want, Captain, an honourable death?

They want to live, Father.

They say that God has left them.

He's deserted them.

Has he?

You should never have become a priest.

But I am a priest, and they need me.

Then help them as a priest!

If you die with blood on your hands,

Rodrigo, you betray everything we've done.

You promised your life to God,

and God is love!

(PRIEST SAYS BLESSING IN LATIN)

Amen.

(IMITATES EXPLOSION)

Aah!

Aah...

Soldier!

Weren't you supposed to be on guard last night?

Look what happened!

Get back there with the others!

They've taken three guns, gunpowder, pistols,

and I don't know what else.

Steady, now!

Steady!

Pull.

Pull.

Pull.

Steady now!

Steady!

(RUSTLING)

Father, I've come to ask you to bless me.

No.

If you're right, you'll have God's blessing.

But if you're wrong,

my blessing won't mean anything.

If might is right...

then love has no place in the world.

It may be so. It may be so.

But I don't have the strength

to live in a world like that, Rodrigo.

I can't bless you.

Rodrigo...

(SHOUTING)

Down there!

Down there!

Bring about the cannon!

Quickly, quickly!

The other cannon as well! Over there!

(THEY SPEAK NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE ISSUES ORDER IN NATIVE LANGUAGE)

Aah!

Aah!

Indians! Turn around!

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

Turn around!

Face them!

Turn around!

Turn around! Indians!

(This way.)

Aah! Aah!

Come on!

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(CANNON SHOT)

Fire!

Take the boat!

Get on the boat!

We'll have to move the cannon!

Move the cannon. Move it!

Over there! Shoot the priest! There!

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

(SINGING AVE MARIA IN LATIN)

None of us wants to do this.

I'm not interested. Take your position.

Fire!

(MURMURING)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

Uhh!

After him! After him!

Don't let the priest get away!

After him!

(SHOUTING)

Back! Back!

The falls!

(SHOUTING)

(HE SPEAKS NATIVE LANGUAGE)

Aah!

Fire!

Aah!

Ohh!

(HE CRIES)

(HE CRIES)

Aah!

And you have the effrontery to tell me

that this slaughter was necessary?

I did what I had to do.

Given the legitimate purpose,

which you sanctioned,

I would have to say...

yes.

In truth, yes.

You had no alternative, Your Eminence.

We must work in the world.

The world is thus.

No, Senor Hontar...

Thus have we made the world.

Thus have I made it.

So, Your Holiness,

now your priests are dead,

and I am left alive.

But in truth, it is I who am dead

and they who live,

for as always, Your Holiness,

the spirit of the dead will survive

in the memory of the living.