Roland Joffé
Eighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.
Jeremy Irons plays a Spanish Jesuit who goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region. Robert De Niro plays a slave hunter who is converted and joins the Jesuit in his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portuguese aggressors.