I was very intrigued by The Mission. I had never really been exposed to the relationship and interactions between different European states as it related to colonization. I really liked the way the film portrayed the tension and conflict between Spain and Portugal. It portrayed the challenges of trying to govern across the ocean from your home country. It also raised many key moral questions through the role of the Cardinal and Mendoza’s decision to defect.
While it did a strong job of exploring the Europeans’ influence in the region, I would have liked to seen more about the overall relationship with the Guaraní. To me, the Guaraní just accepted their fate after their original resistance and embraced Christian life. The readings depicted this dynamic as much more complex, so the way it was depicted on the film surprise me. However, the producers had to make stylistic choices about what they wanted to focus on in order to make an entertaining picture.
With that being said, the film would be a rather useful “public humanities” resource. It does a good job of exposing the many faces of colonization in an interesting and understandable manner. Viewers gain a stronger understanding of its internal mechanisms and will probably leave with a different perspective than they came in with.