American Indian Culture and Research Journal

An award-winning film, The Mission presents an allegorical treatment of colonial drama in the Americas. Although the opening credits to the film state that “the historical events, represented in this story are true, and occurred around the borderlands of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the year 1750,” there is considerable evidence that the scope of this film is greater than the year 1750. Depicting the fabled “Jesuit Republic,” The Mission dramatizes historical events that span a period of more than 150 years, from 1610 to 1768. In scope and deed these events bear much that is relevant to the invasion and conquest of the Americas. Minding this premise, there is reason to suspect that The Mission dramatically conveys an allegory of the Conquest. In doing so, it frames the narrative in an allegorical sense of “brother care” or “neighbor love” that constitutes the agape doctrine of the synoptic Gospels. In approaching The Mission I propose to turn our attention to what I will call the archaeology of the film. By archaeology I am suggesting the foundations, both historical and imagined, in the filmmaker’s craft. As Father Daniel Berrigan, S.J., adviser on the film, has pointed out, a “two hour film attempts the impossible in summary of two hundred fifty years of achievement.” Film cannot be judged against the complexities that govern traditional historical analysis and presentation. Minding this consideration, I present, first, a historical sketch of the Jesuit Republic and, second, a critical analysis of the film. HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST In order to appreciate The Mission, it is helpful to review the historical themes that engendered the Conquest and, subsequently, the Jesuit Republic. Following landfall in the Americas and his initial observations of the Natives, Columbus wrote: “They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said to them; and I believe that they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion.”