The Mission

1.- PLOT OF THE MOVIE

The movie takes place during the XVIII century, in Latin America. Next to the Iguanzú waterfalls, there is a guaraní village, in the middle of the jungle. The Jesuit father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) manages to arrive to the small village in order to continue the job that once started another crucified Jesuit; he is going to try to evangelize the guaranies.

Finally, he manages to be accepted by the indigenous only thanks to his faith and a flute. Once he has learned the language and set up a good relationship with the people in the village, he founded the San Carlos’ mission. One of the main followers of this mission is Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) an ex-slave trafficker that has also killed his own brother, who was searching the forgiveness of God and manages it by becoming Jesuit and leaving together with the guaranies, his victims of the past.

After years of fighting together, both Jesuits confront the cause of the Independence of the indigenous: Gabriel believes on the power of faith and praising whereas Rodrigo thinks fighting with weapons like swords is the solution.

 2.- JESUIT MISSIONS IN PARAGUAY

The fights between the Portuguese and the Spanish, none of which respected the Tordesillas treaty (for the division of territories between those two countries), made the Spanish monarch, Felipe II, to send the Jesuits to that area of Paraguay. The mission, which was ordered in 1585, consisted in defending the Spanish frontiers from the Portuguese attacks as well as to Christianize and teach the guaraní indigenous in the Spanish traditions, avoiding at the same time they to be captured as slaves.

 

3. - THE TREATY OF MADRID

The Spanish–Portuguese treaty of 1750 or Treaty of Madrid was a document signed in Madrid by the Spanish monarch, Ferdinand VI of Spain, and the Portuguese monarch, John V of Portugal. It was signed on the 13 January of 1750 in order to end the armed conflict over a border dispute between the empires of both countries in South America. The treaty established borders between the Spanish and Portuguese empires, ceding much of what is today's country of Brazil to the Portuguese.

The relationship between this treaty and the movie is that, because of the treaty of Madrid,  the Jesuits had to fight in order to conserve their territories for Spain. The main reason is that if this villages became Portuguese slavery of the guaraní indigenous would increase as in Portugal this practice was allowed. 

 4. - JESUIT REDUCTIONS

A Jesuit reduction was a type of settlement for indigenous people in South America created by the Spanish Jesuit Order during the 17th and 18th centuries. The strategy of the Spanish Empire was to gather native populations into centers called "Indian reductions”, in order to Christianize them and also to govern them more efficiently. These settlements were used firstly in an area that would correspond to modern-day Paraguay and then they spread to parts of actual Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia.

This reductions made by Jesuits were very different from other reductions of other regions because the indigenous people were expected to convert to Christianity but not necessarily adopt European values and lifestyles.

 5. – THE MOVIE AND ZAMORA

This movie is related to Zamora thanks to its main character, Father Gabriel, who in real life was called Diego de Torres Bollo. He was born in Villalpando, Zamora, in the year 1551.

His defense of the indigenous, against the abuses of the colonists, is pioneer in the human rights. He has become one of the great figures of the American evangelization thanks to his labor of thinking up and realizing that marvelous utopia of Reductions.  Moreover, Quintín Aldea, an academic of history, points that Diego de Torres Bollo consolidated the Juli’s experiment, which would soon become the apostolic model of working with the indigenous; he also promoted the formation of a native clergy through the Seminary-School (as the one of Quito); furthermore, he begun the proselytism with the black people of Cartagena of Indies and, finally, his probably most important and memorable action (and also the one which is most related with the movie), he created and organized the Paraguay reductions.