Roland Joffe · 1986 · river

Roland Joffe's 1986 film. In 1750s South America, the Jesuit priest Father Gabriel climbs above the thundering Iguazu Falls to build a mission among the Guarani people, and converts the slave-trader-turned-penitent Mendoza to his cause. When a treaty hands the territory to the Portuguese and their slavers, the priests and their converts must choose between flight, faith and armed resistance.

1. 1
   Asuncion

   The colonial seat from which the Jesuit order runs its South American missions, and from which Father Gabriel sets out up the great rivers into the jungle above the falls.

2. 2
   Iguazu Falls

   The vast waterfall the priest must climb past to reach the Guarani - a natural wall between the colonial world below and the mission territory in the highland jungle above.

3. 3
   San Carlos

   The thriving mission among the Guarani above the falls, where Gabriel and the reformed Mendoza build a haven - until a colonial treaty condemns it and forces a final, tragic stand.