The Mission ending explained

What happens

Soldiers attack San Carlos. Gabriel dies leading a procession of prayer and music, and Mendoza dies fighting beside the Guaraní. The mission is destroyed, and a few children escape into the forest carrying some of the instruments.

The last image

The surviving Guaraní children slip away into the forest with the instruments, while the Cardinal's letter closes on the living judging the dead.

Three readings

1 · Both deaths vindicatedNeither the pacifist nor the fighter is shown as simply right, so both deaths stand as arguments.

2 · Faith outlasts forceThe children and the instruments suggest the community's music survives the soldiers.

3 · Judgment falls on youThe Cardinal's closing admission leaves the question of blame with the powerful and with the viewer.

What it says

The film shows that belief is tested by what people will do for each other once institutions walk away. Obedience, force and faith all fail to save the mission, yet something still survives. It ends on the living and the weak, not on victory.