The Other Conquest (La Otra Conquista)

I've seen this film before but only with spanish subtitles. I've been wanting to share this movie with friends and this copy has english subtitles.The DVD took longer than expected to arrive despite the one state travel distance, the case wasn't clean and the disc was covered in smudges and fingerprints. I cleaned it all up and underneath it all, no scratches!

This is an edited review. Since I first saw this film [and rated it only 3 stars], I purchased the film and watched it in detail. On reexamination I realize that I should have rated this movie at least 4 stars. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't permit us to change the original rating. The film is visually impressive and starts out with the heart sacrifice of a beautiful young woman. This is not exploitative. If anything, the director errs on the other side. The priest treats his victim with great respect and, before the actual sacrifice, whispers into her ear the things she must tell their God in dark Mictlan.It's almost beautiful and depicts something of the awe in which the Mexica held their religion. On the other hand, and make no mistake of it, many--perhaps most--Aztec sacrifices were brutal acts of religion and politics, intended to demonstrate to their subjects exactly where power lie.No matter, after this fascinating and powerful scene, the movie is unable to maintain it's focus. "La Otra Conquista" is the story of the "Other Conquest", the conquest of the Aztec religious mind, as distinguished from their bodies. The film focuses on the fate of a single Aztec man who is singled-out for special treatment by Hernan Cortes, himself. I'm reminded of "Cool Hand Luke". The Spaniards are determined to get this poor fellows "mind right." They torture him. They burn his feet with fire. Subsequently we see our hero walking around pretty well which is really odd. During and after the conquest, these tortures were commonplace so that much is accurate. Our poor hero stands up manfully but becomes increasingly confused by images of the Virgin Mary. His confusion ultimately leads to his strange self-destruction.One of the major--and important points of the movie--is our victim's [scribe and illigetimate son of Motecuzoma] difficulty in sorting out the similarities and differences between the beloved Mexica Earth Goddess and the Virgin Mary. Many years later, it must be remembered, the simple Indian, Juan Diego, had a vision of the Virgin i.e. the famous 'Virgin of Guadalupe'. Significantly, he had his vision on the same ground that the Earth Goddess was worshipped. The Aztecs therefore gained 'permission' to convert to Catholocism and the rest is history.There can be no question that the Mexica revered their Earth Goddes along with many other Gods and Goddesses....BUT....the 'Earth Goddess' is the same who is reprsented as a dismembered corpse on a disc laying at the foot of the Templo Mayor. The Earth Goddess was defeated and dismembered [according to Aztec myth] by her even more worshipped and powerful brother, Huitzilopotchli. Sacrificial ceremonies replicated the event. Victims, heart-sacrified on the heights of the pyramid, were cast down the step to [hopefully] come to rest on the Earth Goddess disc. The dead bodies were then chopped up in memory of the sacred dismemberment. It is fascinating that the Azteca would have so revered such a defeated, dismembered deity.Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

I enjoyed this movie, but have to admit that I watched it twice on back-to-back days to fully appreciate it. There's a very natural feel to the film even though much of the subject matter is spiritual. A great deal of effort was made to film at actual Mexican locations that hasn't been made, in my opinion, since the "Captain From Castille-1947". Although I speak neither, the use of Spanish and Nahuatl (English sub-titles) added to the cultural class and antagonism that the use of a single language wouldn't have captured. The only other recent films one might tend compare this to would be "The Mission-1986" or "Apocalypto-2006", but those wouldn't really be good comparisons except for the visual impact both films make. I won't discuss The Mission as most folks interested in this film probably know that epic film. In Apocalypto a fictional, pre-conquest clash between native cultures in the Maya-region is portrayed and on about the same scale. This film is post-conquest Spanish/Aztec based upon historical figures and situations. I was visually intrigued and constantly thinking about these characters and what their motivations were in this film; in a good way. Well worth adding to the collection!

I saw this film in the theater in Mexico City around 1998, 8 years BEFORE Apocalypto. I was fascinated, there are very few Mexican productions of this quality. Over the years, I had lost hope to ever see it on DVD until now. To a point, I am thankful to Apocalypto because it brough attention to Mexican native topics, and made this film come back. Anyway, this is art cinema, not a popcorn movie like Apocalypto. They also correspond to very different chronology. I am really sad to see poor reviews because "it wasn't better than Apocalypto"... it wasn't meant to be, the box is misleading. La Otra Conquista has a lot of symbolism to Mexicans, both visually and verbally. I can understand some frustration in English-speaking viewers because a lot is lost in translation. The Nahuatl language spoken in many scenes is beautiful! The sets are astounding, while watching the movie, we played trying to identify the locations, it wasn't filmed in studios. The central story is not obvious, it is not a biography or adventure, but a succession of scenes showing the struggle of an indian of noble ascent that becomes a slave, his family and world torn apart, and forced to believe in a religion he doesn't understand. At the same time, the struggle of an Spanish priest whose world and beliefs are also challenged with new, uncompromised points of view, and the barbaric acts from his "civilized" compatriots. If you are only expecting some family fun and a bash of culture, this is not your film, and has nothing to do with Apocalypto, Indiana, or any other big Hollywood production. It isn't a documentary either. This is a deep film to prompt reflexion.

The DVD itself was perfect, no scratches, no major damage to the case and played perfectly. Story was very interesting and ahead of it's time for bringing up such important issues to light that is normally looked over in history classes which I feel is something we should all be looking into so we do not repeat the same mistakes. If you are a history buff of this specific time period then you'll absolutely love how well done this film was, despite the human sacrifice part 🙄