Section 5: Paradise Gained

A close-up of Gabriel's face dissolves into a long shot of the mission at San Miguel. The Cardinal's voice-over tells us that he is once more dictating his letter to the pope, recalling his visit to San Miguel, which functions as a journey of self-discovery for the Cardinal. From the metaphor that he uses, it is clear to us that he has already made his decision regarding the fate of the mission territories. But what he sees at San Miguel forces him to rethink.

In the sequences that follow, brotherhood, harmony and rural peace predominate; with the church, the choir and the quiet industry of the Indians demonstrating to us and to the Cardinal, that these missions indeed provide a refuge for the Indians.

There is an undercurrent of menace present which is supplied not only by the belligerent Cabeza, but by the unctuous Hontar as well. The real reason for the closure of the missions is disclosed against the idyllic setting of the mission itself.

Once he has conferred with Hontar, the Cardinal goes to the church to pray. He is approached by Gabriel, who invites him to visit San Carlos: the mission above the falls. Both the soundtrack and the visual track suggest a triumphal procession.

 

The beauty and the power of the limb I had come here to sever.

View clip for questions 1 and 2.

1. What does the Cardinal mean?

2. How does the camera echo the above words of the Cardinal?

3. View the entire sequence and then discuss what filmic techniques Joffe employs to evoke the feeling of a harmonious rural community during the Cardinal's tour through San Miguel.

 

The work of the mission is the work of the devil.

View the clip for questions 1 - 5

1. How does the visual track show that the Cardinal is dismissive of Hontar?

2. Comment on the way in which Cabeza is filmed in this scene.

 

3. Why, do you think, is Cabeza so hostile towards the Jesuits and their missionary work?

 

4. Analyse the close-up of Hontar's expressions during Cabeza's vitriolic attack on the missions.

5. What does Altamirano have to do for: the church, the Jesuits, the Portuguese, the Spaniards?

Come with me to my mission at San Carlos

View the clip for questions 1 and 2

1. How does the Cardinal's costume differ from what he wore in Asuncion? Any reason for this?

2. Explain the Cardinal's wry comment that the Indians might have preferred that "the sea and the wind had not brought us".