The film The Mission is set in 1750 in South America. The main characters in the film are Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro), who was a Spanish slave trader, and Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons), who was a Spanish Jesuit. This essay will show the four warring powers in the film, the native Guarani, the Jesuits, the Spanish and Portuguese governments, and the Cardinal. At first the Guarani natives of South America did not like the Spanish because the Spanish used them as slaves and killed them. The natives lived a hidden life, they were scared, they were poor and they were starving. Later they began to get along with the Jesuits when they began to Christianize them and build missions, and when the Spanish became kinder to them. At the end of the film most of the natives were killed by the Portuguese Rodrigo Mendoza was a Spanish slave trader who went to South America to capture the natives and turn them into slaves. Mendoza kills his brother in a fit of rage for taking his girlfriend and is taken to prison. After being taken to prison he has to make pennants for the Jesuits, begins to feel sorry for himself and stops killing. He then becomes a Jesuit and begins to help the natives by fighting the Portuguese. Mendoza is killed during a shootout by the Portuguese in the mission. 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 to the natives, for example when the natives were being plundered by slave traders, the Jesuits stepped in to help them build houses and feed them. They also helped build a foundation for knowing the Lord. The Spanish and Portuguese governments came to South America for the land and to use the natives as slaves to work on the plantations. They believed that the natives were animals, so they used them as cheap labor, however the Jesuits did not agree to use the natives as slaves, so war broke out between the Jesuits and the natives, and the Portuguese.