MovieChat Forums > The Mission (1986) Discussion > Poor Defense Tactics

Poor Defense Tactics

posted 12 years ago by Eponymous-too
7 replies | jump to latest

Waiting for the soldiers to come to them guaranteed failure. All they would have had to do was station natives at the top of the falls. Put 20-30 all around the various rises and they could have held off the soldiers forever. Cannon fire at them would have done little and the soldiers would have quickly run out of shot and powder. All the natives would have had to do was tumble a few rocks down on anyone who tried to climb.

While we're at it, since they took powder and weapons from the soldiers at night, they were obviously going to use them to kill soldiers, so again why wait for them to come to you. It's not like it's more religious to kill the soldiers later rather than sooner. Just slit all their throats in the middle of the night, or just set the powder to explode while they are all sleeping.

That was a badly written section of the film.

"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."

[–] betsydema 12 years ago

I also, while watching this movie, thought WHY OH WHY did they let the invading army get past the falls!!! It didn't make sense to me to let them get almost right on top of the mission before they attacked the invading army. I'll have to google this subject to see if this how it really took place...you know how the movies are!!!

[–] zwoopmugen 11 years ago

A few facts you may not be taking into account:

-Rodrigo was a mercenary, a hunter. He was not a real soldier, much less a strategist. He was good at murdering men, that is all.
-The priests were complete amateurs at the whole killing thing.
-The guarani couldn't hold off the invaders when they first arrived.
-Europeans have centuries and centuries of war training under their belt. I know it may be hard to see it if you live there, but in the rest of the world is just not normal to go and kill your neighboors.

Still don' get that last part? Here's how country politics are run on southamerica.

Reasons not good enough to invade:
-Thinking differently (Venezuela vs everyone)
-Owing money or not respecting a commercial agreement (Argentina vs Chile)
-Having a history of abuse or slaughter (everyone, but most shockiling Paraguay vs Brasil, Uruguay and Argentina)
-Insulting the president of another country (Uruguay vs Argentina)
-Threatening of invasion or killing of citizens (Bolivia and Perú vs Chile)

The only reason people kill each other over here is for territory. So yeah. When we see someone, we think about the best way to hug or kiss such person. Shooting at that person, or thinking about how to throw him off a cliff into a waterfall would not only be bad sportmanship. It'd also be just pretty damn rude.

[–] Degree7 11 years ago

I think they were doomed from the beginning.

I mean, they hold off the first wave of invaders... then what? You really think the Catholic Church would stand to have an autonomous Mission gone rogue for long? They'd just send more soldiers to wipe them out.

Limit of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief: directly proportional to it's awesomeness.

[–] ggilles104 10 years ago

I agree totally. Saw the movie for the first time today. Holding the high ground they could have stopped the Spaniards or Portugese for years.

[–] sunintended 8 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YSozbfIQbY

[–] mylesag 8 years ago

Well, it was hard to defend because the battle occured in two different countries. There were the "Falls" scenes shot at Iguazu in Argentina; and then there were the mission scenes shot in Colombia. Thus, it would've been hard to defend the mission that way.

[–] MoviemanCin 8 years ago

I agree. I would have taken them on at the falls and easily defeated them.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.