The Mission (1986)
Jeremy Irons: Gabriel
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Quotes
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Gabriel : If might is right, then love has no place in the world. It may be so, it may be so. But I don't have the strength to live in a world like that, Rodrigo.
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Mendoza : I want to renounce my vows of obedience.
Gabriel : Get out.
Mendoza : I want to explain...
Gabriel : Get out, Rodrigo. I won't listen to you.
[pause]
Gabriel : Just you?
Mendoza : No, it's Ralph and John too.
Gabriel : What do you want captain, an honorable death?
Mendoza : They want to live, Father. They say that God has left them, He's deserted them. Has He?
Gabriel : You shouldn't have become a priest.
Mendoza : But I am a priest, and they need me.
Gabriel : Then help them as a priest! If you die with blood on your hands, Rodrigo, you betray everything we've done. You promised your life to God. And God is love!
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Altamirano : Tell them they must leave the missions. They must submit to the will of God.
Gabriel : They say it was the will of God that they came out of the jungle and built the mission. They don't understand why God has changed his mind.
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Altamirano : Why must they fight? Why can't they return to the jungle?
Gabriel : Because this is their home. Did you know this was going to be your decision?
Altamirano : Yes.
Gabriel : Then why did you come, Your Eminence?
Altamirano : To persuade you not to resist the transfer of the mission territories. If the Jesuits resist the Portuguese then the Jesuit order will be expelled from Portugal. And if Portugal, then Spain, France, Italy... who knows? If your order is to survive at all, Father, the missions must here be sacrified.
Altamirano : [a native child talks to Gabriel] What are they saying?
Gabriel : They say they didn't want to go back to the forest because the devil lives there. They want to stay here.
Altamirano : And what did you say?
Gabriel : I said I'd stay with them.
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Gabriel : We are not the members of a democracy, Father. We are the members of an order.
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Altamirano : The Garden of Eden!
Gabriel : It's a trifle overgrown.
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Gabriel : Come with me to my mission in San Carlos. There's so many distractions in here. It's hard to see anything clearly. I think, that, there your prayers might meet with better fortune. I think, there, God would tell you what it would be good to do. And He'd give you the strength and the grace to do it whatever it costs you.
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Gabriel : Let us pray for our brother Rodrigo. Christ, you led Father Ignatius to renounce the snares of this world... and to put on the livery of labor and humiliation. Now we ask your blessing on Rodrigo as we welcome him into our community. Teach him to be generous, to labor and not to count the cost... to serve with no reward, save the doing of your will.