The film The Mission takes place in 1750 in South America. The main characters of the film are Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro), a Spanish slave trader, and Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons), a Spanish Jesuit. This essay will demonstrate the four battling powers in the film, the indigenous Guarani, the Jesuits, the Spanish and Portuguese governments and the cardinal. At first, the indigenous Guarani people of South America disliked the Spanish because they used them as slaves. and kill them. The natives lived in hiding, they were afraid, they were poor and hungry. Later, they began to get along with the Jesuits as they began to Christianize them and build missions, and as the Spanish became kinder to them. By the end of the film, most of the natives have been killed by the Portuguese. Rodrigo Mendoza was a Spanish slave trader who traveled to South America to capture natives and turn them into slaves. Mendoza kills his brother in a fit of rage for taking his daughter and is taken to prison. After being taken to prison, he has to make pennants for the Jesuits, and he begins to feel sorry for himself and he stops killing. He then became a Jesuit and began to help the natives by fighting the Portuguese. Mendoza is killed in a shootout by Portuguese during the mission. The Jesuits come to South America to build missions and spread Christianity among the natives. Father Gabriel was one of these Jesuits. Their goal was to create peace between the natives, the Spanish and the Portuguese, build missions, and convert the natives to Christianity. The Jesuits were very helpful and caring towards the natives. For example, when the natives were devastated by slave traders, the Jesuits came to help them build houses and feed them. They also helped establish the foundation of knowledge of the Lord. The Spanish and Portuguese governments came to South America to seek land and use the natives as slaves to work on plantations. They believed that the natives were animals, so they used them as cheap labor. However, the Jesuits did not agree on the use of the natives as slaves, so war broke out between the Jesuits and the natives, and the Portuguese..