REVIEWS Latin America’s genocide exposed in The Mission THE MISSION. Starring Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro. Directed by Roland Joffe. Written by Robert Bolt. A Warner Brothers release. At local theatres. Using history in film to comment sub- tley on what’s happening today is not a new technique, and it may not have been the sole intention of director Roland Joffe in his latest production. But in viewing The Mission, a dramatic account of an historical fight by Jesuit priests against the genocidal intention of the 18th century Portuguese and Spanish empires, it is hard not to draw some parallels. Joffe, who directed the politically ambiguous The Killing Fields, makes a straightforward statement against colon- ialism through his depiction of good ver- sus evil: in this case, the lower orders of the clergy and the Guarani indians of South America against the colonial powers and _ the Vatican. Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) is the Jesuit priest who succeeds — following the sad fate of his predecessor, who is crucified and sent for a plunge over the ~ Tguazu Falls — in finding acceptance by, and eventually converting, the Guarani. They live in the lush jungle above the falls located in current-day Argentina. Having won the hearts of the Natives, Gabriels’ next hurdle is Captain Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro), a Spanish who preys on the Guarani in pursuit of slaves. The slave trade has been abolished in Spanish territories, but that doesn’t stop Mendoza, who can always deal with the Portuguese. But the mercenary’s life changes dram- atically after he kills his brother in a fit of passion. The penitant Mendoza, who is resigned to wasting away through self- neglect, is rescued by Father Gabriel. Under the missionary’s guidance, Men- doza performs contrition by climbing his own “Calvary” — scaling the treacherous heights of Iguaza Falls while pulling a bundle of armor. Mendoza’s self-inflicted torture leads to catharsis, and the former mercenary takes the vows of a Jesuit and dedicates his life to serving his former victims. While it is true that the church was a form of European colonization, The Mis- sion tells us that the Jesuits considered their Native converts to be citizens in the colonial empires. The mission of San Car- los, founded by Gabriel, is like others of its kind a functioning plantation run by the Indians themselves and bountious enough to guarantee self-sufficiency. Self-supporting communes run by the people who are supposed to be slaves, or at least impoverished peasants, are bound to run afoul of the authorities in the neo- feudal empires. The fate of the mission is sealed when the Treaty of Madrid is signed in 1750 and the lands on which the mis- sions are located are to be acceded to the Portuguese Empire. The Vatican, which has benefited through the efforts of the Jesuits in the New World, is supposed to tell the order to pull up stakes and move from the terri- tory. It dispatches Cardinal Altamirano (Ray McAnally) to inform the priests of this development. The cardinal is in fact overwhelmed by the achievements of the missions — not only in terms of agricultural successses and the Native’s adherence to Christianity but to cultural achievements as well. The Natives are excellent violin makers, and musicians as well. Priest Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) takes up sword again to fight colon- ialists. But with the Vatican under pressure from two colonial empires, the cardinal must follow the politics of expedience. The Jesuits refuse his orders to abandon the missions and the stage is set for the bloody war which follows. Everyone gives a workmanlike perfor- mance in The Mission. The sets — including the 450-year old Columbian town of Cartagena, which was refurbished to stand in as the Spanish New World capital, Asuncion — and the photography are stunning. The dialogue, like the plot, is simple, low-key and to the point. The themes — the outrage against the genocide inflicted | on South America’s Natives, and the | moral validity of non-violence in the face’ of armed aggression — are stated without artifice. Throughout, there’s. an unstated com- parison to the Latin America of today. Director Joffe makes it clearer with the acknowledgement at the conclusion of the film that priests are still struggling to pro- tect Natives from genocide. That state- ment only skims the surface of Latin American politics, but any such message is important in mass audience cinema. New tape raises funds for strike support The strikes which originally inspired the tape are over. But in a climate of employers seeking further concessions from their workers, there are bound to be many more disputes requiring the assistance sales of Hold the Fort will provide. So says Evert Hoogers, chair of the Van- couver and District Labor council’s strike support committee, in commenting on a new cassette of labor and progressive songs the council released just in time for the Christmas season last month. Hold the Fort: Songs for Labor on the Line is the full title of the cassette, produced by Vancouver musicians Julius Fisher and Jane Leroux, who with their band contrib- uted four original songs to the tape. Altogether there are 19 songs on the tape, featuring musicians both of local renown — Tom Hawken, Phil Vernon and Lynn McGown and Michael Pratt, for example — along with nationally acclaimed record- ing artists like DOA, Bim, Connie Caldor and Stringband. When the project was underway, two major labor battles were taxing the time, effort and financial resources of the trade union movement in B.C. — the Gainers strike, and the months-long forest dispute. Recorded and mixed mainly at the home of Fisher from a comparatively simple recording system, Hold the Fort is of sur- prisingly good quality. Tracks recorded by Fisher compare well with others pre- recorded and donated to the effort by the Vancouver Folk Music Festival’s Oral Tra- ditional label. The variety of tunes reflects the breadth of the progressive movement itself. 10 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 14, 1987 Tom Hawken provides some labor standards with renditions of “Hold the Fort” and “Commonwealth of Toil,” in addition to his own anti-arms race composi- tion, “‘Nuclear Gospel.’’ Other labor standards are presented by Utah Phillips _ (“Power in the Union”) and Jon Bartlett and Rika Ruebsaat (“Solidarity Forever”). Phil Vernon, who has achieved a name for playing to unemployed rallies and sim- ilar events in B.C., offers two original songs: “No Contrcting Out” and “Murder,” the latter a dramatically moving ballad that puts the blame on the drive for profits for the deaths three years ago of four construc- tion tradesmen who fell from a downtown Vancouver highrise project. The richly inventive harmonies of Aya, a four-member women’s a capella group, mark their renditions of “If They Come in the Morning” and “Quilt Song (Hold On).” Canadian folk and country performers Bim and Connie Caldor team up for a beautiful rendering of Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December.” Expo-related evictions of Downtown Eastside residents figure in the political commentary of Hilda and Phil Thomas’s “Jimmy and Joe.” Peter Dent sings of the B.C. farmworker’s organizing struggles in “Zindabad.” The group Special Guests — led by Fisher and Leroux, whose former band, Communique, has played at dozens of pro- gressive events — contribute four original, and highly inventive, compositions. In what can only be described part of a growing body of political rock, in line with the hard- hitting compositions of Bruce Cockburn, the group comments on Expo (‘Party Fever’’), the Gainers strike (“18B”), the former Solidarity movement (“Socreds Out’) and the Slade and Stewart lockout (‘I’m Gonna Stand — Locked out at Slades”). Hold the Fort comprises the first of what producer Fisher says will be a series of pro- jects under the label of Slim Evans Records and Tapes, named for the famous On-to- Ottawa Trek leader, Arthur “Slim” Evans. It isn’t the fault of the producers that some of the material — including the hauntingly memorable “18B” — have been somewhat dated by the conclusion of the labor disputes to which they refer. But the money they generate will be put to good use in the future, says Hoogers. “It’s basically a fundraiser for people locked out or on strike. We’ll use the funds in whatever way is most appropriate at the time,” Hoogers, who is also president of the Vancouver local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, reports. Hoogers calls the product “something quite new for us, and for that reason we’d like it to be a success and become an impe- tus for other projects.” The strike support committee will receive all the proceeds from sales once the first 400 copies have been sold. They can be purchased at the People’s Co-op Bookstore, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and several other book and record stores. Bulk orders should be addressed to the Vancouver and District Labor Council, Room 206, 33 E. Eighth ~ Ave., Vancouver, B.C., VST 1RS5. HOLD THE FORT | Songs for Labour On The Line SKETCH BY: SHEILA ALLAN aca ceatE | | | _ : A Strike Support Fundraiser for | The Vancouver & District Labour Council | t f Produced by Slim Evans Records and Tapes with songs by Aya, Jon Bartlett, Bim and Connie Kaldor, Peter Dent, D.O.A., Special Guests, Tom Hawken, Lynn McGown and Michael Pratt, Bruce ‘’Utah’’ Phillips, Stringband, Hilda and Phil Thomas, Phil Vernon. Available at People’s Co-op Books, Festival Records, c/o Vancouver Folk | Music Festival Bulk orders from Vancouver and District Labor Council