To fight for a cause in a time of slavery and greed

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2013)

THE MISSION is a history drama about the expulsion of the Jesuits' missions in South America in the middle of the XVIII century. By what I've learned the plot's background is accurate to history and all we see in this movie truly happened in real life, unfortunately! The search for slavery work was continuous at the time by Portuguese colonists and the Spanish in spite of slavery not being directly allowed by their crown they also used the indigenous slaves. The Spaniards which had been creating Indian reductions since the middle of the XVI century, as a form to convert and control those indigenous people, were followed by the Portuguese, and both built Jesuit reductions in their territories. But after the 1750 treatment the Jesuits would be expulsed because they refused to leave their missions where their lived together with the indians, in peace. And the indians themselves they didn't want to abandon the reductions too because they knew that in the main jungle they would be an easy target to slave traders (known as "bandeirantes" in Portuguese colony).
So it's just the main plot's topic of this movie which then focus on the personal story of father Gabriel (played by Jeremy Irons), a Jesuit missionary, and Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert de Niro) a former slave trader which was converted to the Christian faith (and to the Jesuits) after kill his brother (because of a woman). The movie has good moments, especially in the last hour, and it describes very well the feeling of injustice and desperation those native people felt by the furious anger of the greedy imperialist armies! There're a few scenes, which focus the sad and empty native children' eyes, that worth more than a thousand words!
I enjoyed this movie and the plot's main topic which portrays a sad period of our history (unfortunately empires were always built under massacres and the subjugation of other people, and I know Portuguese empire was no exception!).