The Mission Page #2

to South America:

To satisfy the Portuguese wish

to enlarge their empire...

... to satisfy the Spanish desire that

this would do them no harm...

... to satisfy Your Holiness...

... that these monarchs would threaten

no more the power of the church...

... and to ensure for you all...

... that the Jesuits here could no longer

deny you these satisfactions.

Lve spent half my life

waiting for Rome.

Stop playing with that.

- What time is it?

- Calm down.

Ten to.

Let me see how the children are doing.

Good.

Twenty-four.

Thirty-nine.

Over there, please.

- Those are Guarani?

- Yes, Your Eminence.

- Extraordinary.

- What?

Very difficult to tell

what they're thinking.

- Have you found this, Seor Hontar?

- I have.

I had that reaction when I first came,

Your Eminence.

Pretty creature.

She'll fetch a lot of money in Lisbon.

Yes. Well, perhaps

she doesn't want to go to Lisbon.

Perhaps not.

Well, Your Eminence,

as to the missions...

We expect no political difference between

the Papacy and Spain and Portugal?

Why should there be?

Between ourselves, Your Eminence,

the Jesuits are too powerful here.

Indeed?

- Well, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen...

- Your Eminence.

By the way, gentlemen...

...I myself was a Jesuit once.

So I had arrived in South America, my

head replete with the matters of Europe.

But I soon began to understand,

for the first time...

... what a strange world

I had been sent to judge.

Don Cabeza, how can you possibly

refer to this child as an animal?

A parrot can be taught to sing,

Your Eminence.

Yes, but how does one teach it

to sing as melodiously as this?

Your Eminence.

This is a child of the jungle,

an animal with a human voice.

If it were human,

an animal would cringe at its vices.

These creatures

are lethal and lecherous.

They have to be subdued by the sword

and brought to labor by the whip.

What they say is sheer nonsense.

Father Gabriel, of the mission of

San Carlos, from which the boy comes.

And that is where?

That is here.

Above the falls, in Spanish territory.

No, that is territory which used

to be Spanish. Now it's Portuguese.

- That is for His Eminence to decide.

- No, that is a state matter.

It was decided by the Treaty of Madrid

and concluded by Spain and Portugal.

But surely the missions will remain

under church protection?

That is what His Eminence

is here to decide, Father Gabriel.

Continue, Father.

Your Eminence, below the falls,

the jungle, if it has to be divided...

...may be divided between

the Spanish and Portuguese.

But above the falls, it still

belongs to God and the Guarani.

There's no one else there.

And they are not naturally animals.

- They're naturally spiritual.

- Spiritual?

- They kill their own young.

- That is true. May I answer that?

Every man and woman is allowed

one child. If a third is born, it is killed.

But this is not some animal rite.

Its a necessity for survival.

They can only run

with one child apiece.

And what do they run from?

They run from us.

- That is, they run from slavery.

- Rubbish.

- It is well-known...

- Rubbish. Your Eminence?

Your Eminence?

Rubbish. Rubbish.

Silence.

In the territories covered by Spain,

there is no slavery.

That institution is permitted

in the territories of our neighbors...

...the Portuguese, and is, to my mind,

much misunderstood.

But here, in Spanish territory...

...we run our plantation in accordance

with the laws of Spain...

...and the precepts of the church.

That is a lie.

That is a lie!

I cannot and will not

accept a challenge from a monk.

- His cloth protects him.

- My cloth protects you.

In the name of the king,

I demand an apology!

I want an apology now!

Damn you, I won't stand for this!

Your Eminence, we've just seen

a good example of Jesuit contempt...

...for the authority of the state.

Member of your community,

Father Gabriel?

Yes.

Come.

- That was perfect.

- What?

A flash of Jesuit temper was just

what we needed him to see.

- What do you mean?

- Be patient, will you?

All we need is a little patience.

He knows what to do.

- You will apologize to Don Cabeza.

- What he said was a lie.

Silence. You will apologize. Go now.

- What was he before he joined you?

- A mercenary and a slave trader.

- Will he apologize?

- Yes, he will.

You should know that the Spanish

do have slaves here.

They buy them from the Portuguese,

amongst others.

- And Don Cabeza connives at this?

- Yes.

Profits by it too.

Don Cabeza wants the mission territories

to be taken over by the Portuguese. Why?

Because the missions are the

only sanctuary left for the Guarani.

Without the shelter we provide

under Spanish law...

...the Indians have no protection

against slavery.

They come to us of their own free will.

- Truly?

- Ask them. Ask the Guarani.

Nine-tenths of what they earn goes back

into the community, into their lives.

Father Gabriel, what do you think

is at issue here?

- The work of God is at issue.

- No, what is at issue...

...is the very existence of the

Jesuit order, both here and in Europe.

And I assure you that

the courts of Europe are a jungle...

...in comparison with which

your jungle here is a tidy garden.

But is that to stand in our way?

Thank you.

- But why must I apologize? Why?

- Because I order it.

- It was a lie.

- Nevertheless, I order it.

Don Cabeza hates Jesuits and Indians.

He and the Portuguese are ruthless.

- Can't you see that?

- Of course.

- Then why must I apologize?

- What better excuse can we give them...

...but that one of our order, albeit a

novice, publicly insults one of them?

Now, you will apologize.

Or are you no longer a Jesuit?

By order of holy obedience,

without reservation...

...I ask Don Cabeza to pardon

my presumption and my insolence.

Well, I accept.

Why not?

But as I said before, I cannot accept

a challenge from a priest.

True, which makes my insolence

all the more insolent...

...and your pardon twice as gracious.

Your Eminence, I ask your pardon too.

I ask the pardon of this assembly.

I ask for the pardon of my brothers.

And I ask for your pardon...

...for insulting His Excellency.

- Thank you, that will do.

Well, that was most gratifying,

Your Eminence.

Do you think you could tell us about

your attitude to the transference...

...of the missions' territories?

- Precisely.

I have kept these matters in the front

of my mind ever since I came here.

But I do not think

I should make a final decision...

...until I have seen these mission

territories with my own eyes.

There are numerous missions

that I should inspect.

But I have decided that

I shall begin with the oldest...

... the great mission of San Miguel.

Your Holiness, a surgeon,

to save the body...

... must often hack off a limb.

But, in truth, nothing had prepared me

for the beauty and the power...

... of the limb that I

had come here to sever.

- Very impressive.

- Perhaps lm missing something.

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