Reflection Questions for The Mission

1. What historical events does the film depict? Does it portray them accurately?

2. What interpretation of the era does the film present?

3. In the film, those who hold political power feel compromised by the presence of the Jesuit mission and call upon church leadership, as representatives of divine power, to intervene, judge, and arbitrate the transfer of power. What is the political significance of the Church’s hierarchy becoming involved in the political issues? How does the film portray the leaders of the Church? How does it portray the political leaders?

4. The indigenous people clearly are cultured, as evidenced by their musical ability and their excellent artisanry. They have also become Christian. However, both the Spanish and the Portuguese continue to dehumanize them, spout fears about them, and ultimately claim a need to subjugate them. Each of these actions seems to justify slavery as a common good. What underlies these efforts by those who wish to oppress the Indians? How are similar rationalizations utilized in contemporary culture? Who are the oppressed of today?

5. Rodrigo Mendoza murders his protege and the lover of his betrothed. As penance and in an effort to earn his redemption, he carries an unbearably heavy load of his former weapons and armor. These items represent his arrogance and egoism, which has led him to justify killing. At the end of his pilgrimage, he finally accepts the release of his burden. He then weeps copiously. Why?

6. As Mendoza is accepted into the Indian community, they paint his body; he is then given a Bible to read, and he later expresses a desire to join the Jesuits. His former life is transformed by these experiences. What is different and what is the same as Mendoza enters his "new life"?

7. After an outburst before the political leaders of Spain and Portugal, Mendoza apologizes, even though he had spoken the truth. At this point, all Jesuits are suspected of holding political leaders in contempt, and thus, the Jesuits represent a major threat to the status quo. How did the Jesuits gain such "power"?

8. To preserve the Church in Europe, the Jesuit missions in Latin America were destroyed. Explain the relationship between the two, and identify what was really at sake.

9. The Indians decide to fight for their home at the mission, and the Jesuits stay. Three of the four Jesuits choose to fight alongside the Indians, while one refuses to fight. He claims, "You promised your life to God, and God is love. You cannot die with blood on your hands. Who is right, those who fight or the one who refrains from fighting?

10. How does the martyrdom of the eighteenth-century Jesuits compare to that of the twentieth-century Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador (16 November 1989) or that of Archbishop Oscar Romero (24 March 1980)?

11. Contemporary liberation theology claims to enunciate the Gospel values of Jesus as being in solidarity with the poor. This ideology has gained supporters, particularly in Latin America, among those who strive to assist the marginalized who suffer political and economic oppression. Liberation theologians insist that the poor be accorded the dignity and power that Jesus preached in the Gospels. How do the actions of the Jesuit missionaries relate to the theology of modern-day liberation theologians?