A Clash of World-Views

Rating: 9/10 (14 November 2012)

At its heart, "The Mission" showcases a conflict of world-views between those who operate with a Hobbsian mentality (the Portuguese and Spanish nationals) and those who operate with a world-view more closely resembling Rousseau's (the Jesuit missionaries). This is summarized in the closing exchange of the movie between Don Hontar and Cardinal Altamirano: "We must work in the world; the world is thus," says Hontar following the massacre. The Cardinal replies, "No, thus have we made the world. Thus have I made it." Is the natural state one of war of all against all, or did is the state of war something created in spite of man's peaceful nature? The movie offers a picture that could support both world-views.
The movie opens with the Guarani killing their first visiting priest, but it closes with a Garden of Eden-like scene of children rowing through the wreckage of war into the peace of the jungle. The European colonists practice slavery (which is a Hobbsian symbol of the strong ruling the weak), but Father Gabriel denounces this and provides the Guarani with sanctuary and education, in the belief that before God, all are equal. Finally, even within the ranks of the Jesuits, there is a difference in world-view when the final conflict comes, and the European soldiers storm the mission to forcibly remove the residents. The former slaver Mendoza believes the mission should be defended with force, while Father Gabriel believes that it should be defended peacefully. Even Cardinal Altamirano's lose-lose decision is an ethical question of strong against weak: should he side with the Jesuits and their mission of peace, or the colonists and their mission of war? Is it better to preserve the safety of a few natives, or preserve the integrity of the Catholic church? "The Mission", then, is a film that sets up these ethical dilemmas and allows them to play out: self-interest versus self-sacrifice and guilt versus forgiveness.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I would highly recommend it as a film that will challenge you and leave you thinking about these things for days and weeks afterward.