The Mission (1986, Warner Bros., dir. Roland Joffe, 125 min, PG-13) provides a good example in World History classes as to how important political and moral issues that apply to us can occur in remote parts of the world. Movies can take us into a totally different world, and this is a great example. Around 1760, Spanish missionary Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) has brought Christianity to the natives in a remote area of Brazil (near the Argentina/Paraguay border – the Iguazu waterfalls is often shown).But the church is under pressure to give the land to the Portuguese (from the Spanish) which take the natives back into slavery.
Mendoza (Robert De Niro), a slave hunter appears and kills Grabiel’s brother (Aidan Quinn) but is converted to Christianity. Mendoza will organize the natives to resist the Portuguese while Gabriel wants to keep Mendoza within the vows of the priesthood. The whole story is complicated, with the European politics of the Church in the background. At the same time, the Jesuits are being driven out of this area of South America (esp. Paraguay) to satisfy the Spanish. At the confrontations toward the end the characters must consider how much of the religious establishment really exists to satisfy the political vanity of man. Liam Neeson, as Fielding, could pass for Michael Caine. The music is by Ennio Morricone and sounds familiar today.
Johnny Harris has a recent video 'How Europe Stole the World', and explains how Spain and Portugal drew a line through South America; Portugal to the East, Spain to the West.
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