The Other Conquest (La Otra Conquista)
Encyclopedia
The Other Conquest is a 1998 Mexican feature film (re-released theatrically in 2007) written and directed by Salvador Carrasco
, produced by Alvaro Domingo, and executive produced by world-renowned tenor
Plácido Domingo
.
The film is a drama about the aftermath of the 1520s Spanish Conquest of Mexico
told from the perspective of the indigenous Aztec
people. It explores the social, religious, and psychological changes brought about by a historical process of colonization that both defined the American continent and is also highly reminiscent of today’s neocolonialism
. It is regarded by top critics (e.g., Kevin Thomas http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/52757232.html?dids=52757232:52757232&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+19%2C+2000&author=KEVIN+THOMAS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Movie+Review, Richard Nilsen http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/preview/articles/0601conquest0601.html#, Larry Ratliff http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/lratliff/stories/MYSA050407.WK.conquest.be84c4.html, among others) as one of the best cinematic explorations on the effects of colonization and also "one of the more astonishing feature film debuts in recent memory"http://www.cinescene.com/reviews/laotraconquista.html. The Other Conquest depicts the complex fusion that took place between the Catholic faith brought to Mexico
by the Spaniards and the Aztec beliefs of the indigenous natives.
Tagline: The spirit of a people can never be conquered.
arrived in Mexico. The Other Conquest opens with the infamous massacre of the Aztecs at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (what is now called Mexico City
). The sacred grounds are covered with the countless bodies of priests and nobility slaughtered by the Spanish armies under Cortés' command. The lone Aztec survivor of the massacre is a young Indian scribe
named Topiltzin
(Damián Delgado). Topiltzin, who is the illegitimate son of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma
, survives the onslaught by burying himself under a stack of bodies. As if awakening from a dream, the young man rises from among the dead to find his mother murdered, the Spanish in power, and the dawn of a new era in his native land - a New World with alien leaders, language, customs... and God. Representing the New Order is the Spanish Friar Diego (José Carlos Rodríguez). His mission is to convert
the "savage" natives into civilized Christians; to replace their human sacrifices and feathered deities with public Christenings and fealty to the Blessed Virgin Mary. With Topiltzin, Friar Diego faces his most difficult spiritual and personal challenge, for when Topiltzin is captured by Spanish troops and presented to Cortés (Iñaki Aierra), the Spanish Conqueror places Topiltzin's conversion under Friar Diego's care. Old world confronts the New as Topiltzin struggles to preserve his own beliefs, whilst Friar Diego attempts to impose his own. Moreover, throughout the film, a fundamental question arises: Who is really converting whom?
The Other Conquest opens in May 1520 when Topiltzin (Damián Delgado), a skillful Aztec scribe who is one of Moctezuma's illegitimate sons, survives the Massacre of the Great Temple by hiding under a corpse. After the Spaniards leave the sacred site, he finds his people dead, including his mother.
By 1526 Topiltzin is still striving to preserve the cult of Tonantzin
, based upon the Aztec Mother Goddess
. When a squadron commanded by Captain Cristóbal (Honorato Magaloni) and Friar Diego (José Carlos Rodríguez) discover the clandestine human sacrifice of a beautiful Aztec princess, two incompatible ways of life come face to face... and violence erupts. Topiltzin manages to escape by making Friar Diego believe he is drawn to the statue of the Virgin Mary that accompanies the Spaniards wherever they go. He is eventually captured and presented to Hernando Cortés (Iñaki Aierra), who has just returned from an ill-fated campaign to Las Hibueras (today's Honduras
). In an attempt to create a hybrid empire, Cortés has taken Emperor Moctezuma's daughter and heiress, the notorious Tecuichpo (Elpidia Carrillo), as his new mistress and interpreter. She reveals that Topiltzin is her half-brother, and a skeptical Cortés spares the young man's life, but in turn decides to convert him to the new Spanish ways with the aid of Tecuichpo (from now on, Doña Isabel) and Friar Diego. After being subject to a brutal ritual of conversion, Topiltzin (now called Tomás) is confined in the Franciscan Monastery of Our Lady of Light.
Five years later (1531), under the tutelage of Friar Diego, Tomás is struggling to reconcile two worlds which could hardly be more different but which also share some basic truths. However, Friar Diego realizes that Tomás and Doña Isabel are forging Cortés's correspondence with Charles V
, King of Spain. Things become even worse when Friar Diego discovers them making love inside the monastery, in a desperate attempt to perpetuate their race. Friar Diego takes it upon himself to save Tomás's soul, and asks Cortés to keep Doña Isabel from returning to the monastery. A pregnant Doña Isabel is secluded in a dungeon.
The overwhelming absence of his half-sister erodes what is left of Tomás's world. He falls into a state of desolation and illness. A well-meaning Indian nun (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez
) applies medieval remedies to him, but these only help turn his feverish attacks into hallucinations that merge Christian and Aztec imagery. Tomás has a vision whereby the Virgin Mary is revealed as the Aztec Mother Goddess.
The arrival of the statue of the Virgin Mary in the monastery, a token of gratitude from Cortés to Friar Diego, now causes Tomás to become genuinely drawn to the statue as a substitute for all he has lost, and he sets on a personal crusade to conquer her. If he absorbs her powers, if he fuses with her, redemption will follow.
Is the Indian's conversion real? Or is Tomás trying to retain his own beliefs under the guise of the new creed? Will he be able to survive with his sanity intact? These questions start revolving in Friar Diego's head, and although he puts many obstacles to keep Tomás from entering the sacristy and consummating his obsession with the statue, he finally allows Providence to decide whether Tomás's mission is legitimate or not. So who is in fact converting whom? Maybe the greatest mystery in the history of beliefs is how certain unorthodox encounters make us continue believing...
José Carlos Rodríguez as Fray Diego de La Coruña
Elpidia Carrillo as Tecuichpo / Doña Isabel
Iñaki Aierra as Hernando Cortés
Honorato Magaloni as Capitán Cristóbal Quijano
Guillermo Ríos as Alanpoyatzin - hermano
Diana Bracho as Doña Juana
Carlos Torres Torrija
as Soldado Héctor (Credited as Carlos Torrestorija)
The Other Conquest was shown in 2003-04 as part of the exhibition “AZTECS: A Civilization Carved in Blood and Stone” at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum in Berlin, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
in New York, where writer/director Salvador Carrasco and producer Alvaro Domingo did Q&As to full-house capacity. In addition, Salvador Carrasco has been invited to screen the film and do Q&As in over 30 universities and colleges in the United States, including NYU (his alma mater), Columbia University
, USC
, UCLA, Pomona College
, Tulane University
, University of Wisconsin–Madison
, Georgetown University
, Santa Monica College
, etc.
On June 23, 2010 The Other Conquest was shown to a packed auditorium at the Getty Villa
as part of the exhibition "The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire," with director Salvador Carrasco
present for a Q&A.
On January 27, 2012 a new 35mm print of The Other Conquest will be shown at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
's Bing Auditorium as the closing event of the exhibition "Contested Visions In The Spanish Colonial World," with writer/director Salvador Carrasco
present for a Q&A following the screening.
, specifically on August 13, 1991, the 470th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. “Living in New York
at the time, I found myself more sensitive to such dates. Trying to imagine what it might have been like back then, it occurred to me that in the face of military defeat and the ensuing losses, an Aztec Indian could resist the Spanish Conquest by carrying out his own form of spiritual conquest --i.e., through ‘conquering’ or absorbing the powers of a statue of the Virgin Mary, in whose name his oppressors were ruling, he’d be able to redeem himself and his people. Needless to say, it is no coincidence that the patron saint of Mexico is the Virgin of Guadalupe, a Virgin Mary with indigenous features. This singular image became the launching point for a short screenplay I began to write, which later evolved into The Other Conquest.” - Salvador Carrasco.
It was at NYU where Carrasco met his friend and future producer, Alvaro Domingo, son of legendary tenor Plácido Domingo. After an intense period of research, Carrasco developed a script centering on a young Aztec scribe and his forced conversion to Catholicism
at the hands of Spanish invaders. Domingo was immediately taken in with the story after Carrasco presented it to him at a restaurant in Mexico City, and it was his idea to take the short film idea and expand it into a full-length feature film. Domingo says, “I just fell in love with the story right then and there. We resolved to create our own company, Carrasco & Domingo Films, using it as a platform to take the plunge together.”
Getting funding for the project proved to be a tough road; the film was first rejected by three different administrations of the Mexican Institute of Cinema (IMCINE). Carrasco was even berated by some for wanting to cast a pure indigenous actor in the lead role. After the initial rejections, Carrasco and Domingo sought independent financing, including from Plácido Domingo himself, who served as Executive Producer of The Other Conquest. Of the film Plácido Domingo has commented, “What makes this film so unique is its message of cultural tolerance --something so much needed in today’s world.” Seed money also came from Mexican philanthropist
Manuel Arango, who had also sponsored Carrasco’s film studies in New York. More funding came from private investors and Mexican public institutions.
Casting began with an eye towards the authentic and Carrasco searched the world over for his ideal cast. “I wanted actors not only to appear as if they belonged in 16th century Mexico, but also to embody the prevailing values of the time,” remembers Carrasco.
It wasn’t long before the perfect actor to embody the film’s lead character, Topiltzin, was found. Damián Delgado, a native of Oaxaca
, had made a career as a professional theatrical dancer.
Filming lasted about seven years, due to funding and even domestic political and economic issues Mexico faced during the 1990s. “Those were three hard years of carting around a VHS videotape with 35 minutes worth of an unfinished film. Three hard years of a great uncertainty, wondering whether we’d be able to complete this film, though deep in my heart, I always knew we would.”- Alvaro Domingo.
Salvador Carrasco has also commented on the feeling of being a young, opera-prima director attempting to accomplish a major work: “ We needed to dispel certain notions that a film like this couldn’t be made; that first-timers like ourselves couldn’t accomplish something as ambitious as this. We needed to prove that we could…to others, and to ourselves.”
Shooting took place in many diverse, original locations including the pyramid of Tenayuca (in the heart of Mexico City), the archaeological site of Xochicalco
and the Hacienda de Santa Mónica. Carrasco’s wife, Andrea Sanderson, a Juilliard-trained violinist, joined the production team and especially helped with the film’s impressive production design. “Andrea and I must have visited every possible archaeological site within a 300-kilometer radius of Mexico City,” remembers Carrasco. “We were looking for an intimate, timeless setting with distinctive architecture, far away from the metropolis, where clandestine rituals could have taken place without the Spaniards knowing.” Colonial plazas and even underground caves were also discovered and used to great effect in the film, giving it a rare, convincing air of complete authenticity.
For the film’s lush, evocative music score, Salvador Carrasco approached classical composer Samuel Zyman and Jorge Reyes, renowned for his work in original indigenous music. Plácido Domingo contributed by performing an aria, “Mater Aterna," with music by Zyman and lyrics by Carrasco, that plays during the end credits.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/53178378.html?dids=53178378:53178378&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+29%2C+2000&author=LORENZA+MUNOZ&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=2&desc=History+(and+Some+Marketing)+Conquer+Box-Office+Adversity%3B+Movies+*+High+audience+turnout+for+the+Mexican+epic+%27The+Other+Conquest%27+follows+a+careful+marketing+strategy+with+a+crossover+appeal.Los Angeles Times article on high-audience turnout for The Other Conquest]
Los Angeles Times 2000 feature story on The Other Conquest release
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/35332875.html?dids=35332875:35332875&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+23%2C+1998&author=GUY+GARCIA&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=2&desc=A+Story+of+Tolerance+Across+the+Ages%3B+Movies%3A+Director+Salvador+Carrasco+strives+to+tell+of+Mexico%27s+past+through+a+universal+prism+in+his+%27The+Other+Conquest%27+at+the+AFI+fest.Los Angeles Times feature story on Director Salvador Carrasco]
Los Angeles Times article: "Chasm Separates 2 Movie Views of Mexican History"
Los Angeles Times article on soundtrack of The Other Conquest
"Alibi" (New Mexico) (USA) 3 May 2007, Vol. 16, Iss. 18, pg. cover, by: Devin D. O'Leary, "The Other Conquest Conquers America: An interview with writer/director Salvador Carrasco"
"The Hollywood Reporter" (USA) 11 April 2007, by: Gregg Kilday, "Indie 'Conquest" re-enters U.S."
"Indie" (USA) 12 April 2007, by: Monika Bartyzel, "Mexican Indie Flick 'The Other Conquest' Gets Second Chance"
(USA) 11 April 2007, by: Dave McNary, "'Conquest' wins re-release"
Tom Hayden
. The Zapatista Reader. Nation Books, 9 November 2001, Pgs. 166-177, (BK), 1560253355
Jack Rothman. Hollywood in Wide Angle: How Directors View Filmmaking. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2004, Pgs. 113-165, (BK), ISBN 081085015x
Deborah Shaw. Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Breaking into the Global Market. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., February 2007, Pg. 216, (BK), 0742539156
John Willis. Screen World: Film Annual. Applause Cinema Books, Vol. 52, 2001, Pgs. 296-297, (BK), 1557834784
Jason Wood
. The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema. Faber and Faber, 7 September 2006, Pgs. 49-56, (BK), ISBN 057121732x
Jorge Ayala Blanco. La Fugacidad del Cine Mexicano. Océano de México, 11 September 2001, Pgs. 331-334, (BK), 9706512349
Santiago Juan-Navarro. "Between El Dorado and Armageddon: Utopia and Apocalypse in the Films of the Encounter" Delaware Review of Latin American Studies; Vol. 6, No. 2; January 15, 2006
Guadalupe Loaeza
. "Todos Somos Topiltzin". In: Periódico Reforma, Palabra, 14 April 1999, (NP)
Eduardo Subirats. La Otra Conquista. In: Revista El Angel, Periódico Reforma, 25 October 1998, Pgs. 3-6, (MG)
Salvador Velazco. La guerra de imágenes en 'La Otra Conquista,' de Salvador Carrasco. In: Cuadernos Americanos Nueva Epoca, UNAM, Vol. 87, May 2001, Pgs. 128-132, (BK)
Salvador Carrasco
-Short biography:Director/writer Salvador Carrasco was born in Mexico City and now resides in Santa Monica, California. He graduated in 1991 with a degree in Film and Television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, receiving the Founders Day Honors Award...
, produced by Alvaro Domingo, and executive produced by world-renowned tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
.
The film is a drama about the aftermath of the 1520s Spanish Conquest of Mexico
Spanish conquest of Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
told from the perspective of the indigenous Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
people. It explores the social, religious, and psychological changes brought about by a historical process of colonization that both defined the American continent and is also highly reminiscent of today’s neocolonialism
Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural forces to control a country in lieu of direct military or political control...
. It is regarded by top critics (e.g., Kevin Thomas http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/52757232.html?dids=52757232:52757232&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+19%2C+2000&author=KEVIN+THOMAS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Movie+Review, Richard Nilsen http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/preview/articles/0601conquest0601.html#, Larry Ratliff http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/lratliff/stories/MYSA050407.WK.conquest.be84c4.html, among others) as one of the best cinematic explorations on the effects of colonization and also "one of the more astonishing feature film debuts in recent memory"http://www.cinescene.com/reviews/laotraconquista.html. The Other Conquest depicts the complex fusion that took place between the Catholic faith brought to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
by the Spaniards and the Aztec beliefs of the indigenous natives.
Tagline: The spirit of a people can never be conquered.
Synopsis
It is May 1520 in the vast Aztec Empire, one year after the Spanish Conqueror Hernán CortésHernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
arrived in Mexico. The Other Conquest opens with the infamous massacre of the Aztecs at the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (what is now called Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
). The sacred grounds are covered with the countless bodies of priests and nobility slaughtered by the Spanish armies under Cortés' command. The lone Aztec survivor of the massacre is a young Indian scribe
Scribe
A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...
named Topiltzin
Topiltzin
Topiltzin may refer to* , a name or title implying divinity, commonly associated with the pre-Columbian central Mexican deity Quetzalcoatl...
(Damián Delgado). Topiltzin, who is the illegitimate son of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma
Moctezuma II
Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
, survives the onslaught by burying himself under a stack of bodies. As if awakening from a dream, the young man rises from among the dead to find his mother murdered, the Spanish in power, and the dawn of a new era in his native land - a New World with alien leaders, language, customs... and God. Representing the New Order is the Spanish Friar Diego (José Carlos Rodríguez). His mission is to convert
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
the "savage" natives into civilized Christians; to replace their human sacrifices and feathered deities with public Christenings and fealty to the Blessed Virgin Mary. With Topiltzin, Friar Diego faces his most difficult spiritual and personal challenge, for when Topiltzin is captured by Spanish troops and presented to Cortés (Iñaki Aierra), the Spanish Conqueror places Topiltzin's conversion under Friar Diego's care. Old world confronts the New as Topiltzin struggles to preserve his own beliefs, whilst Friar Diego attempts to impose his own. Moreover, throughout the film, a fundamental question arises: Who is really converting whom?
Plot
On November 8, 1519 the Spanish Conqueror Hernando Cortés and his small army rode into the Aztec capital of the vast Aztec Empire, where they were welcomed by the Emperor Moctezuma. Within two years, the Aztec civilization was in a state of orphanage, the survivors having lost their families, homes, language, temples... and GodsThe Other Conquest opens in May 1520 when Topiltzin (Damián Delgado), a skillful Aztec scribe who is one of Moctezuma's illegitimate sons, survives the Massacre of the Great Temple by hiding under a corpse. After the Spaniards leave the sacred site, he finds his people dead, including his mother.
By 1526 Topiltzin is still striving to preserve the cult of Tonantzin
Tonantzin
In Aztec mythology and among present-day Nahuas, Tonantzin 'Our Revered Mother' is a general title bestowed upon female deities. Informants of Sahagún, for example, called a frightening goddess of war and childbirth, Cihuacoatl, by this title...
, based upon the Aztec Mother Goddess
Mother goddess
Mother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...
. When a squadron commanded by Captain Cristóbal (Honorato Magaloni) and Friar Diego (José Carlos Rodríguez) discover the clandestine human sacrifice of a beautiful Aztec princess, two incompatible ways of life come face to face... and violence erupts. Topiltzin manages to escape by making Friar Diego believe he is drawn to the statue of the Virgin Mary that accompanies the Spaniards wherever they go. He is eventually captured and presented to Hernando Cortés (Iñaki Aierra), who has just returned from an ill-fated campaign to Las Hibueras (today's Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
). In an attempt to create a hybrid empire, Cortés has taken Emperor Moctezuma's daughter and heiress, the notorious Tecuichpo (Elpidia Carrillo), as his new mistress and interpreter. She reveals that Topiltzin is her half-brother, and a skeptical Cortés spares the young man's life, but in turn decides to convert him to the new Spanish ways with the aid of Tecuichpo (from now on, Doña Isabel) and Friar Diego. After being subject to a brutal ritual of conversion, Topiltzin (now called Tomás) is confined in the Franciscan Monastery of Our Lady of Light.
Five years later (1531), under the tutelage of Friar Diego, Tomás is struggling to reconcile two worlds which could hardly be more different but which also share some basic truths. However, Friar Diego realizes that Tomás and Doña Isabel are forging Cortés's correspondence with Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, King of Spain. Things become even worse when Friar Diego discovers them making love inside the monastery, in a desperate attempt to perpetuate their race. Friar Diego takes it upon himself to save Tomás's soul, and asks Cortés to keep Doña Isabel from returning to the monastery. A pregnant Doña Isabel is secluded in a dungeon.
The overwhelming absence of his half-sister erodes what is left of Tomás's world. He falls into a state of desolation and illness. A well-meaning Indian nun (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez
Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez
Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez is a Mexican-born actress whose breakout role was the 1983 film El Norte.Gutiérrez attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, with highest honors, in Dramatic Literature and Theater, was a scholar in four languages including...
) applies medieval remedies to him, but these only help turn his feverish attacks into hallucinations that merge Christian and Aztec imagery. Tomás has a vision whereby the Virgin Mary is revealed as the Aztec Mother Goddess.
The arrival of the statue of the Virgin Mary in the monastery, a token of gratitude from Cortés to Friar Diego, now causes Tomás to become genuinely drawn to the statue as a substitute for all he has lost, and he sets on a personal crusade to conquer her. If he absorbs her powers, if he fuses with her, redemption will follow.
Is the Indian's conversion real? Or is Tomás trying to retain his own beliefs under the guise of the new creed? Will he be able to survive with his sanity intact? These questions start revolving in Friar Diego's head, and although he puts many obstacles to keep Tomás from entering the sacristy and consummating his obsession with the statue, he finally allows Providence to decide whether Tomás's mission is legitimate or not. So who is in fact converting whom? Maybe the greatest mystery in the history of beliefs is how certain unorthodox encounters make us continue believing...
Cast
Damián Delgado as Topiltzin / TomásJosé Carlos Rodríguez as Fray Diego de La Coruña
Elpidia Carrillo as Tecuichpo / Doña Isabel
Iñaki Aierra as Hernando Cortés
Honorato Magaloni as Capitán Cristóbal Quijano
Guillermo Ríos as Alanpoyatzin - hermano
Diana Bracho as Doña Juana
Carlos Torres Torrija
Carlos Torres Torrija
Carlos Torres Torrija is a Mexican actor, well known for his role in the TV series Gitanas.-Television and filmography :-External links:...
as Soldado Héctor (Credited as Carlos Torrestorija)
Release and box office
The Other Conquest broke box-office records upon its 1999 release in Mexico by Twentieth Century Fox, "enjoying the biggest opening weekend of any Mexican film in history on its home turf." (The New York Times) When it was released in Los Angeles the following year, it grossed 1 million dollars http://indie.cinematical.com/tag/The+Other+Conquest/ and was selected as one of The Los Angeles Times’ Top 10 Films of 2000. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6696/Lists/00top10t.htm&date=2009-10-25+08:15:16 In the summer of 2007, the film was re-released in select cities across the United States and it made its long-awaited debut on DVD http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UVV24M in October 2007. Bonus materials include director-writer Salvador Carrasco’s commentary and 15 deleted scenes.The Other Conquest was shown in 2003-04 as part of the exhibition “AZTECS: A Civilization Carved in Blood and Stone” at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum in Berlin, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
in New York, where writer/director Salvador Carrasco and producer Alvaro Domingo did Q&As to full-house capacity. In addition, Salvador Carrasco has been invited to screen the film and do Q&As in over 30 universities and colleges in the United States, including NYU (his alma mater), Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, UCLA, Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
, Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College is a two-year, public, junior college located in Santa Monica, California.Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study...
, etc.
On June 23, 2010 The Other Conquest was shown to a packed auditorium at the Getty Villa
Getty Villa
The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California, USA, is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria...
as part of the exhibition "The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire," with director Salvador Carrasco
Salvador Carrasco
-Short biography:Director/writer Salvador Carrasco was born in Mexico City and now resides in Santa Monica, California. He graduated in 1991 with a degree in Film and Television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, receiving the Founders Day Honors Award...
present for a Q&A.
On January 27, 2012 a new 35mm print of The Other Conquest will be shown at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
's Bing Auditorium as the closing event of the exhibition "Contested Visions In The Spanish Colonial World," with writer/director Salvador Carrasco
Salvador Carrasco
-Short biography:Director/writer Salvador Carrasco was born in Mexico City and now resides in Santa Monica, California. He graduated in 1991 with a degree in Film and Television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, receiving the Founders Day Honors Award...
present for a Q&A following the screening.
Conception and production
The idea for The Other Conquest came to director Salvador Carrasco, a native of Mexico City, during his final years as a film student at New York University's Tisch School of the ArtsTisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, specifically on August 13, 1991, the 470th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. “Living in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at the time, I found myself more sensitive to such dates. Trying to imagine what it might have been like back then, it occurred to me that in the face of military defeat and the ensuing losses, an Aztec Indian could resist the Spanish Conquest by carrying out his own form of spiritual conquest --i.e., through ‘conquering’ or absorbing the powers of a statue of the Virgin Mary, in whose name his oppressors were ruling, he’d be able to redeem himself and his people. Needless to say, it is no coincidence that the patron saint of Mexico is the Virgin of Guadalupe, a Virgin Mary with indigenous features. This singular image became the launching point for a short screenplay I began to write, which later evolved into The Other Conquest.” - Salvador Carrasco.
It was at NYU where Carrasco met his friend and future producer, Alvaro Domingo, son of legendary tenor Plácido Domingo. After an intense period of research, Carrasco developed a script centering on a young Aztec scribe and his forced conversion to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
at the hands of Spanish invaders. Domingo was immediately taken in with the story after Carrasco presented it to him at a restaurant in Mexico City, and it was his idea to take the short film idea and expand it into a full-length feature film. Domingo says, “I just fell in love with the story right then and there. We resolved to create our own company, Carrasco & Domingo Films, using it as a platform to take the plunge together.”
Getting funding for the project proved to be a tough road; the film was first rejected by three different administrations of the Mexican Institute of Cinema (IMCINE). Carrasco was even berated by some for wanting to cast a pure indigenous actor in the lead role. After the initial rejections, Carrasco and Domingo sought independent financing, including from Plácido Domingo himself, who served as Executive Producer of The Other Conquest. Of the film Plácido Domingo has commented, “What makes this film so unique is its message of cultural tolerance --something so much needed in today’s world.” Seed money also came from Mexican philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
Manuel Arango, who had also sponsored Carrasco’s film studies in New York. More funding came from private investors and Mexican public institutions.
Casting began with an eye towards the authentic and Carrasco searched the world over for his ideal cast. “I wanted actors not only to appear as if they belonged in 16th century Mexico, but also to embody the prevailing values of the time,” remembers Carrasco.
It wasn’t long before the perfect actor to embody the film’s lead character, Topiltzin, was found. Damián Delgado, a native of Oaxaca
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
, had made a career as a professional theatrical dancer.
Filming lasted about seven years, due to funding and even domestic political and economic issues Mexico faced during the 1990s. “Those were three hard years of carting around a VHS videotape with 35 minutes worth of an unfinished film. Three hard years of a great uncertainty, wondering whether we’d be able to complete this film, though deep in my heart, I always knew we would.”- Alvaro Domingo.
Salvador Carrasco has also commented on the feeling of being a young, opera-prima director attempting to accomplish a major work: “ We needed to dispel certain notions that a film like this couldn’t be made; that first-timers like ourselves couldn’t accomplish something as ambitious as this. We needed to prove that we could…to others, and to ourselves.”
Shooting took place in many diverse, original locations including the pyramid of Tenayuca (in the heart of Mexico City), the archaeological site of Xochicalco
Xochicalco
Xochicalco is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Municipality of Miacatlán in the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The name Xochicalco may be translated from Nahuatl as "in the house of Flowers". The site is located 38 km southwest of Cuernavaca, about 76 miles by road...
and the Hacienda de Santa Mónica. Carrasco’s wife, Andrea Sanderson, a Juilliard-trained violinist, joined the production team and especially helped with the film’s impressive production design. “Andrea and I must have visited every possible archaeological site within a 300-kilometer radius of Mexico City,” remembers Carrasco. “We were looking for an intimate, timeless setting with distinctive architecture, far away from the metropolis, where clandestine rituals could have taken place without the Spaniards knowing.” Colonial plazas and even underground caves were also discovered and used to great effect in the film, giving it a rare, convincing air of complete authenticity.
For the film’s lush, evocative music score, Salvador Carrasco approached classical composer Samuel Zyman and Jorge Reyes, renowned for his work in original indigenous music. Plácido Domingo contributed by performing an aria, “Mater Aterna," with music by Zyman and lyrics by Carrasco, that plays during the end credits.
Web articles
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1269513861.html?dids=1269513861:1269513861&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+12%2C+2007&author=Reed+Johnson&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=E.1&desc=WORLD+CINEMA%3B+Another+attempt+for+%60Conquest%27%3B+A+Mexican+look+at+the+Aztec-Spaniard+clash+gets+re-released+eight+years+after+its+premiere.Los Angeles Times 2007 feature story on The Other Conquest re-release]http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/53178378.html?dids=53178378:53178378&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+29%2C+2000&author=LORENZA+MUNOZ&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=2&desc=History+(and+Some+Marketing)+Conquer+Box-Office+Adversity%3B+Movies+*+High+audience+turnout+for+the+Mexican+epic+%27The+Other+Conquest%27+follows+a+careful+marketing+strategy+with+a+crossover+appeal.Los Angeles Times article on high-audience turnout for The Other Conquest]
Los Angeles Times 2000 feature story on The Other Conquest release
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/35332875.html?dids=35332875:35332875&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+23%2C+1998&author=GUY+GARCIA&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=2&desc=A+Story+of+Tolerance+Across+the+Ages%3B+Movies%3A+Director+Salvador+Carrasco+strives+to+tell+of+Mexico%27s+past+through+a+universal+prism+in+his+%27The+Other+Conquest%27+at+the+AFI+fest.Los Angeles Times feature story on Director Salvador Carrasco]
Los Angeles Times article: "Chasm Separates 2 Movie Views of Mexican History"
Los Angeles Times article on soundtrack of The Other Conquest
"Alibi" (New Mexico) (USA) 3 May 2007, Vol. 16, Iss. 18, pg. cover, by: Devin D. O'Leary, "The Other Conquest Conquers America: An interview with writer/director Salvador Carrasco"
"The Hollywood Reporter" (USA) 11 April 2007, by: Gregg Kilday, "Indie 'Conquest" re-enters U.S."
"Indie" (USA) 12 April 2007, by: Monika Bartyzel, "Mexican Indie Flick 'The Other Conquest' Gets Second Chance"
(USA) 11 April 2007, by: Dave McNary, "'Conquest' wins re-release"
Monographic related books
Miriam Haddu. Contemporary Mexican Cinema, 1989-1999: History, Space and Identity. The Edwin Mellen Press, 2007, Pg. 276, (BK), 0773454330Tom Hayden
Tom Hayden
Thomas Emmet "Tom" Hayden is an American social and political activist and politician, known for his involvement in the animal rights, and the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. He is the former husband of actress Jane Fonda and the father of actor Troy Garity.-Life and...
. The Zapatista Reader. Nation Books, 9 November 2001, Pgs. 166-177, (BK), 1560253355
Jack Rothman. Hollywood in Wide Angle: How Directors View Filmmaking. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2004, Pgs. 113-165, (BK), ISBN 081085015x
Deborah Shaw. Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Breaking into the Global Market. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., February 2007, Pg. 216, (BK), 0742539156
John Willis. Screen World: Film Annual. Applause Cinema Books, Vol. 52, 2001, Pgs. 296-297, (BK), 1557834784
Jason Wood
Jason Wood
Jason Peter Wood , Australian politician, was elected to the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of La Trobe, Victoria for the Liberal Party of Australia at the 2004 federal election. He held the seat until his defeat at the 2010 federal election...
. The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema. Faber and Faber, 7 September 2006, Pgs. 49-56, (BK), ISBN 057121732x
Jorge Ayala Blanco. La Fugacidad del Cine Mexicano. Océano de México, 11 September 2001, Pgs. 331-334, (BK), 9706512349
Essays
Salvador Carrasco. "The Invisible Sight". In: The Zapatista Reader, Nation Books, 9 November 2001, Pgs. 166-177, (BK), ISBN 9781560253358 --Scroll down to bottom of page--Santiago Juan-Navarro. "Between El Dorado and Armageddon: Utopia and Apocalypse in the Films of the Encounter" Delaware Review of Latin American Studies; Vol. 6, No. 2; January 15, 2006
Guadalupe Loaeza
Guadalupe Loaeza
María Guadalupe Loaeza Tovar is a contemporary Mexican writer, author of many books including Las Niñas Bien, Las Reinas de Polanco, Debo, Luego Sufro and Compro, Luego Existo, in which she ironizes about the Mexican upper class...
. "Todos Somos Topiltzin". In: Periódico Reforma, Palabra, 14 April 1999, (NP)
Eduardo Subirats. La Otra Conquista. In: Revista El Angel, Periódico Reforma, 25 October 1998, Pgs. 3-6, (MG)
Salvador Velazco. La guerra de imágenes en 'La Otra Conquista,' de Salvador Carrasco. In: Cuadernos Americanos Nueva Epoca, UNAM, Vol. 87, May 2001, Pgs. 128-132, (BK)
Print media reviews
- Don Bain. The Other Conquest Examines the Consequences of Empire. In: La Voz Nueva (Denver, Colorado, USA), 17 October 2007, Pgs. 8-11, (NP)
- Elsa Bragato. La Otra Conquista. In: Revista Así, 17 December 1998, Pg. 1, (MG)
- Eduardo Ruiz. La Otra Conquista: el triunfo de la tesis sobre el drama personal. In: Excelsior, 5 November 1998, Pg. 33, (NP)