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A Film About Jesuit's Work, The Mission Essays

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The film “The Mission” released in 1986 is a fictional story with a historical underlining. Several of the characters are based off of historical figures. While certain scenes represent historical events. The film is about the Jesuits’ work and how the mission of the Jesuits was to, “spread Catholic ideas through teaching… (and) missionary work” (pg1.) The film does more than just apply history; it shows us how far humans will go for power. Power back then was to expand as far as possible, the more land you had to more power you had. The power here is Spain and Portugal looking to enslave the indigenous people, take over their land, and expand. This film makes us not only look at the historical context which it contains, but also our…show more content…
It’s not the fact that we did not know what to say, but I think it was the fear of the unknown, the fear that something was different then what we had known our whole lives. That’s why I think the European governors treated the indigenous people the way they did due to the unknown. What is foreign to us is one of the scariest things that is out there, especially something we think that might over power us. This does not give them the right to think the way that they did, that the indigenous people were beast-like and deserved to be enslaved. The one scene in the movie made my heart ache when Cabeza stated, “A herring can be taught to sing.” Yes, the indigenous people had a different way of life. They hunted for their own food shown in the scene where they were trying to get Rodrigo to kill the pig, they built their own houses, and yes, they wore different clothing. These are all things that come from being a part of a different culture it does not make anyone less human. We need to take a lesson from the movie and stand up and realize that people are people no matter how different. This leads the movie to another good point that social injustice still happens in everyday life. We need to be accepting of all individuals and help break down these social injustices by getting to know one another and standing up for every single human being’s basic rights. A single action done by one person in the right way can be a benefit for not only that one person, but
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