In June 2011, my French classmate lent me a 1986 film, "The Mission". he claimed it to be very inspiring, so I decided to watch it too.
Synopsis
The film kicks off with Cardinal Altamirano (played by Ray McAnally) narrating to his scribe (to report to the Pope) on the tragic conclusion of the Jesuits' fates in South America. (Jesuits are a Roman Catholic order of monks dedicated to education and missionary works.) He tells the story of Father Gabriel's (Jeremy Irons) work among the native Guarani people, and his attempts to protect them from slavery.
Robert De Niro plays a slaver named Mendoza who regularly captures Guarani in the forest. This brings him into conflict with Father Gabriel, who attempts to start a mission with the Guarani. (It is illegal to enslave tribes on Spanish mission land.) Upon finding out his brother's affair with his fiancee, Medoza engaged him in a duel and slew him. This filled him with remorse, and he spiralled into a state of depression. Medoza asked Father Gabriel for redemption, so Father Gabriel set him up with a penance.
Medoza then tied a stash of weapons and armour to himself and accompanied Father Gabriel and other Jesuits to a return journey to the Guarani. This journey was particularly hard for Medoza, as he had to dragged him stash up the Igazu Falls. The Guarani forgave Medoza despite his past atrocities against them, and this brings him to tears.
Medoza asked to join the Jesuit order, and Father Gabriel and Father Fielding (Liam Nesson) accepted him.Yet all is not perfect-- in the 1750 Treaty of Madrid, the Spanish agrees to exchange some lands (including the Guarani mission lands) with the Portuguese. The secular Portuguese state did not recognise the Spanish mission lands and protected, and would thus sought to enslave the Guarani. Highlighting this problem, the Jesuits asked the Pope to mediate this treaty. Cardinal Altamirano, an ex-Jesuit himself, is dispatched by the Pope.
Brought to the Guarani mission lands by Father Gabriel, Cardinal Altamirano is impressed by the work. The Guarani have accepted Christianity, and have a small workshop which produced musical instruments. The Guarani children were not only able to play European music, but also to sing in a choir. Yet Cardinal Altmirano knew what he must do. If he ruled in favour of Portugal, the Guarani mission would be destroyed, and its people enslaved. However, if he ruled in favour of the Jesuits, the Jesuit order would be expelled from Portugal, and the ties of the Church with Europe could be strained. The Roman Catholic Church no longer had the same power and influence as it did during the Medieval Ages. Despite his advice, the Jesuits and the Guarani refused to leave the mission lands. With deep regret, the cardinal wrote to the Pope,
"Your Holiness, a surgeon to save the body must often hack off a limb. But in truth nothing could prepare me for the beauty and the power of the limb that I had come here to sever."
As the combined force of the Spanish and Portuguese approached the the mission lands, Medoza and Father Gabriel had a falling out. Medoza believed in taking up arms and convinced many of the Jesuits and Guarani to follow suit. Father Gabriel believed in non-violence and expelled Medoza from the order, believing that even if Medoza won, he would lose in principle as he used violence to attain his aims.
Although they fought bravely, Medoza, Father Fielding (does Neeson die in every movie I watch him in?) and his followers are cut down. As Medoza laid dying and the Spanish and Portuguese soldiers enter the mission village, they are met with Father Gabriel and several Guarani holding a Roman Catholic ritual. Despite their initial reluctance, the troops opened fire, killing Father Gabriel and most of the Guarani.
As Cardinal Altamirano rued over the huge loss of lives, the Portuguese Governor of the region assured the cardinal that that compromise was the way the world worked. The cardinal remorsefully replied,
"No, thus have we made the world. Thus have I made it."
Despite it's tragic end, a few Guarani children approached the site of the massacre and retrieved a few belongings. The film ends with a statement that Jesuits continue to this day to fight for the rights of the natives and concludes with John 1:15.
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
A Theological Review
[Editor's note: please understand while this movie is based on the actual Jesuits' missions to South America, I will not be comparing the film with history. This is because I do not know much about the historical issue. Instead, I will be solely looking at the messages given by the film.]
The film raises many questions, and I will write about a few of them.
Penance and Forgiveness
As a result of slaying his brother, Medoza began a road of redemption. He showed how sorry and guilty he was by dragging his stash of weapons and armour up a waterfall.
Being Protestant, this external form of penance is unnecessary. As Reformer John Calvin (based on his exposition of Romans 7: 7-25) puts in his work Of Justification By Faith, "without forgiveness no man is pleasing to God." In other words, divine forgiveness comes before repentance. Hence repentance just involved the inner change of attitude of the heart.
This contrasted with Medoza who felt he needed to punish himself to be forgiven.
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| Medoza (Robert De Niro) drags his stash up the waterfall as part of his penance |
Politics and Compromise
As the film proposes, there is a conflict between the secular world (especially with regards to politics), and the Kingdom of God. This is a particularly difficult and tricky issue for Christians as the Bible does not provide specific instructions for government and societal conduct, but rather for individual salvation and principles (Wyatt, 2009). In fact, both Jesus and the Apostle Paul advocated obedience to the ruling governing authorities. The early Christians too followed Roman laws and customs (with the exception of worshipping the Emperor).
In the film, several clashes were highlighted. The main one was of course the clash between the interests of the Jesuits and the papal authorities. To Father Gabriel, God's Word was at stake. To Cardinal Altamirano, it was the respectability of the Roman Catholic Church. Following the example of Daniel 3,the Cardinal should have stood up to his superiors (and the Spanish and Portuguese) and should have chosen to serve God, rather than men.
Next, Cardinal Altamirano was in discussion with a Guarani Jesuit on the profits of the mission, the Jesuit stated that the profits are shared by the community. The Cardinal pointed out that "a French radical group" practised that idea. However, the Jesuit explained that it was a early Christian practice also (probably in reference to Acts 4: 32-35). Cardinal Altamirano looked surprised-- did years of human tradition influenced the running of the Church?
Personally, I recognise that there is always going to be a clash between Christians and secular authorities. The Reformer Martin Luther ascribed this conflict with his Two Kingdoms theology. He maintained that the civil government should not enforce religious belief, while the church should obey the government's rules as far as possible. This however, should not prevent Christians for running for government positions or for Christians to rebel against the government especially in areas of moral disagreements.
This was attributed to Christians being in, but not of the world, while they await the Kingdom of Heaven (which is here, but not yet).
Violence and Non-violence
The final, most obvious conflict revealed towards the plot's end was the use of violence to repel the slavers. Father Gabriel was opposed to any form of violent resistance, while Medoza felt the great need to take up arms. Christian theologians have generally argued over whether it was right or not to wage war.
On one hand, Jesus forbade Peter from using violence to protect him (see Matthew 26: 47-56). However, the followers of Jesus did not ask tell soldiers to give up their jobs. For instance, John the Baptist did not tell the soldiers to lay down their arms, but only to be fair in their treatment of others (Luke 3: 1-20).
For instance, the 3rd century theologian Origen was a firm pacifist. In his work Contra Celsum, he states that "Christians could never slay their enemies. For the more that kings, rulers, and peoples have persecuted them everywhere, the more Christians have increased in number and grown in strength."
However, the famed Thomas Aquinas argued in Summa Theologica that violence can be justified according to his Just War theory. He list three conditions--
1) Authority of sovereign
2) A just cause
3) A rightful intention
As I mentioned, the difficultly in resolving this issue is that many well-intentioned Christian thinkers differ on this. Personally, I lean towards the Just War Theory as I recognise the need to defend one's country (or in the Jesuits' case, the people) in this imperfect world.
Conclusion
The film raises many other issues, and I wished I was knowledgeable enough to engage them. The film was great and well-acted. If I had one criticism, it is that the final battle was underwhelming. (However, it is not an action film, and it was filmed in 1986.) Personally I wished I have known about it earlier. I give the film a 95/100.
References
Wyatt, J. (2009) Matters of Life and Death
For further readings
Of Justification By Faith
Christianity and Politics
Two Kingdoms
Contra Celsus
Thomas Aquinas's Just War
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