This movie by Salvador Carrasco show us the other side of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. I did not really like this movie but I do give credit for the movie for trying to show us fusion between the Aztecs and the Spaniards on screen. This movie reminds me of the old and recent war and genocide in my country. When people of my ethnicity in my own country where hunted and killed. The movie was to dry for my taste. I wanted to see more and understand more. I felt that the movie did not explain the violence surrounding the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1521 nor the loss and horror when the entire cities were destroyed. I think the movie fail to capture a deeper exploration into the historic moment of the fusion between Aztecs and the Spaniards. The end of the film left me confused because the director in a way fails to explain why the film ended they way it did. I mean why does Topiltzin, son of Moctezuma played by Damian Delgado decided to steal the Virgin Mary and then dies with it on top of him? I though that he left the spiritual conquest unexplained. It did not make any sense to me until we discussed it in class. When we talk about the film in class I got to hear that at the ritual, when they where about the sacrifices Topiltzin they made him look at the Virgin Mary. This made him hate her, but his feelings and spiritual belief changed when he started to see the Virgin as something good and a mother figure. This made me connect why he stole and wanted to die in peace next to Virgin Mary that he saw as a mother. If you paid enough attention you could see blood flowed out came from the Virgins wrist not from Topiltzin. You could also see tears from the virgin. This shows that she was in pain of loosing her "child". If we had not talk about this in our class I would not have connected. And this is exactly what I mean, that you do not really get an explanation. I also did not see how this connects with what the story of the film which is the fusion of the two religion. The cast however, did a great job specially the character Topiltzin, son of Moctezuma played by Damian Delgado considering that it was one of his first movies. I also felt that the light and quality of the movie was very poor. It might had been the directors intention or because this was low-budget film.
Review of The Other Conquest
