The Mission Page #3

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...

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote