Katie Shivanandan
Period 4
Dr. Drummond
January 30, 2009
Perspective
It’s all a matter of perspective. We look for only what we wish to see in the world;
however The Mission helps us see the different perspectives. The Mission focuses on the
influence of the Catholic Church versus the power of a country. In The Mission, the perspectives
we are given to ‘look through’ are seeing the Europeans as people either trying to help or destroy
the Guarani, the native Indians of Paraguay. These two perspectives are shown most clearly in
the ‘trial’ scene, and the scene in which His Eminence, a cardinal of the Catholic Church, is at
the mission of San Miguel. The movie leads you to ponder whom you are going to believe.
In the ‘trial’ scene, His Eminence’s task is to decide if the Church should continue to
support the Jesuits and their mission to the Indians. We see the Jesuits as the protagonists, and
the Portuguese and Spanish mercenaries and civil authorities as the antagonists. At the trial, a
small Indian boy sings, and Don Cabeza, the head of the Spanish mercenaries, suggests that he is
no better than an animal, saying, “A parrot can be taught to sing.” Father Gabriel, the leader of
the Jesuit missions, defends the Indian by saying that some of the customs that the Europeans
view as barbaric actually resulted from the European insertion in their lives. An example of this
is practice of killing their third child at birth incase they need to flee from the mercenaries, as
each parent can only carry one child.
The film poses many questions: Would the Indians be better off without the Jesuit
involvement in their lives? Would the mercenaries have known where to go to find the Indians
without the help of the Jesuits? More importantly, would the Indians have fought against the
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mercenaries if they had not known what their objectives were? Perhaps without the Jesuits, fewer
of the Indians may have been killed, although more might have been sold into slavery. Although
Father Gabriel seems to be defending the Guarani, is he really looking out for their best
interests? After His Eminence tells the Jesuits and the Indians that the Missions must be shut
down, the Indians tell Father Gabriel that they do not want to go back into the jungle because
“the devil lives in the forest.” This makes us wonder why the Guarani think that in the first place.
Were Gabriel’s intentions really with God in his heart, or for his own advancement?
The point of view that the Jesuits are a positive influence is illustrated when His
Eminence seeks to convince Don Cabeza that he wants to save the Missions. His Eminence could
be viewed as either trying to save the missions, or not doing enough to help them from being
destroyed. He cautions Don Cabeza not to allow the territories to go under Portuguese control
because slavery is legal in Portugal. Although the Spanish do not legally allow slavery, it still
occurred through the capture of Indians outside the missions and the Spanish protecting Christian
converts. The Spanish authorities had worked with the church to allow the mission to remain
there peacefully. His Eminence knows that if the territories go over to the Portuguese without the
missions having the protection of the church, the Indians would be slaughtered.
His good intentions were not enough. When he receives a letter from Portugal, he gives
in and shuts down the missions. He would rather condemn the lives of the Indians than risk
shutting down the Jesuits order in Europe. Where the Jesuit missionaries are strong, he is weak.
The worst part of his actions is that he leads the Jesuit missionaries to believe they have a chance
of surviving by going to two of the missions. Would it not have been better to rip off the bandaid and be done with it?
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The overall cinematography of the movie is in a dark light, which creates a sense of
foreboding and destruction. The two scenes chosen are filmed in more light, which clearly
illuminate the two different perspectives that are outlined in the movie. These scenes contrast the
rest of the movie because they show people coming to the defense of the Guarani. In the first
scene, it is Father Gabriel and the Jesuit missionaries, and in the second it is His Eminence
hinting to Don Cabeza that he should not allow the territories to be transferred to the Portuguese.
So whose perspective do we take? In both scenes we are given two perspectives and the
chance to choose between the lesser evil. Depending on how you look at it, you could decide that
both the Jesuits and the Portuguese/Spanish are doing harm to Indians. You cannot help but
wonder if the Indians would have been better off if the Europeans had never come at all. For all
the good in the world, there is an equal amount of bad. At the end of movie, the Portuguese
representative, Senor Hontar, remarks, “The world is thus.” This is when His Eminence feels
most guilty, saying, “No… Thus have we made the world. Thus have I made it.”