Directed by: Roland Joffe
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Aidan Quinn, Ray McAnally
Factual error: In the San Carlos Mission are visible Matarraton trees (Gliricidia sepium). They only grows in the tropics of America (Colombia, Venezuela, Panama), not in Paraguay or its borders with Argentina and Brazil.
Factual error: The cardinal mentions the Marquis of Pombal. Sebastião Mele would be the first to receive that title, but that would be 20 years after the film is set. Mele received the title of Marquis in 1770, a full 15 years after the Cardinal's visit.
Deliberate mistake: During the gunfire of the Portuguese soldiers at the end, seconds before Jeremy Irons is killed, an old Indian woman is shot in her chest, but the actress/extra forgets to react and continues walking.
Sebastian: Your Christian community is commercially competitive.
Altamirano: Yes. It's very prosperous. Isn't that precisely why you want to take it over?
Sebastian: No. You should've achieved a noble failure if you wanted the state's approval. There's nothing we like better than a noble failure. It's deeply reassuring to a trading nation such as my own.