Section 1 -- Prologue

The film opens with a piece of written text, establishing where we are geographically and historically. An ECU of Cardinal Altamirano follows. He is dictating a letter to the Pope. The lighting, images of writing equipment and the industrious scribe, all suggest a reasonably civilised and sophisticated Western setting. These images fade to be replaced with images of the mission at San Miguel, a Jesuit priest playing the violin with a group of Indian children and herds of domesticated animals; all contributing to a sense of peace and harmony.

There is a fade to an aerial shot of the high plateau followed by a quick cut to an ECU of a cross. After the initial confusion, it becomes clear that a Jesuit priest is about to be martyred. Dramatic visuals accompany the priest as he is carried downstream. As the cross on to which the priest is tied plunges over the falls, the sound of the falls dominates and the camera zooms out to an extreme long shot of the Iguacu Falls and the titles come up on the screen.

 

View clip for the following questions

Your Holiness, I write to you ...

1. What device does the director use to place the film in an actual historical context and what kind of film does one expect if this device is used?

2. Why does the director choose to introduce Altamirano by using an extreme close-up?

3. How was Altamirano initially going to start his letter and suggest why he then changes it.

4. Comment on the aspects of this scene on which the director chooses to zoom in.

 

The great mission of San Miguel …

Note the transition from the previous scene to this one.

1. Discuss how the music, characters, camera angles, colours and lighting help to emphasise the contrast between the Cardinal's environment and that of the mission.

2. This is our first introduction to Father Gabriel. What does the director wish to convey to the audience by placing him in this setting?

… and received in return, martyrdom.

1. How do the sound-track and the editing of the visual track portray a sense of confusion to the audience at first?

2. How is man's relative insignificance emphasised in this sequence?

These sequences highlight the different worlds the film encompasses: the sophisticated, the simple and the natural. Write a paragraph in which you show how the director, actors, cinematographer, editor and composer work together to emphasise the contrasts between these worlds.