The Mission

            The film The Mission portrays eighteenth century injustices against the Guarani Indian people. The slave trading governments of Spain and Portugal wished to expand their empire and it would be up to the church to decide whether or not the mission would remain under the protection of the church in the name of the Vatican. In the film The Mission there are many examples of cultural differences and factors between the Jesuits and the Guarani Indians that eventually influence and cause vast changes within the Guarani culture.
             One key cultural aspect that influenced both cultures was the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian exchange is basically interaction between the Old World and the New World. Such exchanges we taking place in The Mission. The Jesuits went from Europe to South America, which is where the Guarani resided in the film. There had definably been some exchanges of practices, ideas, etc. between Europe and South America. Possibly the most obvious exchange in the film could be religion. The Jesuits went from Europe to South America so that they may save Guarani Indians, whom the Europeans believed to be savage people. They attempted to save the Guarani Indians by converting them to civilized Christian people that practiced what the Europeans believed to be proper. .
             Religion was not the only idea that was exchanged during the Columbian Exchange. In the film, the Guarani Indians also receive music as part of this exchange. In the film, the Guarani Indians sing in Latin, which is clearly a result of Europeans entering and influencing South America. Along with singing, the Guarani Indians constructed violins that were also foreign prior to the birth of the Columbian Exchange. Along with music and religion the Guarani also received arts, clothes, and livestock that was unknown to them until their contact with Europeans. However, it was an exchange, and in effect Europeans also received practices, ideas, etc.