Directed by Salvador Carrasco
Spanish w/ English subtitles
Rated R, 105 minutes (1999)

by Matt Espinoza Watson

You turned my people into ashes. Our truth went up in flames.

The Other Conquest is a historical fiction that combines real and fictitious characters and events to explore the period after the Fall of the Aztec/Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521. The film centers on the struggle of Topilitzin, the only surviving son of the Emperor Moctezuma, to preserve his people’s religious and cultural identity in the midst of the invasion of Mexico by Spanish conquerors and clergymen.

Much of the film focuses on Friar Diego de la Coruña & Topilitzin, and the process of transformation each of them undergoes as they struggle to understand one another. Damián Delgado, who also co-starred in John Sayles’ film Men With Guns, is great as Topilitzin. The character of Friar Diego (played by José Carlos Rodriguez) is partly based on Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, who personally oversaw the destruction of much of the Aztec/Mexica culture, including thousands of books and sculptures.

From the faithful integration of the Aztec language and codices to the usage of actual archaeological and colonial sites in Mexico, the filmmakers bring 16th century Mexico to life in a skillful, beautiful, relevant-to-the-21st-century sort of way. The writing and directing are excellent, and the cinematography, despite the limitations of a relatively small budget, is impressive. An original aria was created for the film and (quite powerfully) performed by Placido Domingo, whose son Alvaro produced the film.

The film contemplates the complex origins of a new, hybrid culture, and the religious, sexual and political conflicts that arise out of the clash of two very different civilizations. The other conquest is a reference to the fact that colonization entails not just a physical, but also a spiritual conquest, as the native population is forced to accept Christianity and turn their backs on their religion. Oftentimes this results in the ‘incomplete’ conversion of natives to Christianity, paying lip service to the Christian God and learning Spanish, but speaking their native Nahuatl and worshipping their own gods in private.

The Other Conquest premiered in Mexico in 1999 and became the highest grossing Mexican dramatic film ever released, but was only released on a limited basis outside the country, and is just now being released in the United States. Salvador Carrasco, the film’s writer and director, states, “The Other Conquest is a story of the aftermath of the Spanish Conquest of my native Mexico, but it is also a universal drama about any other culture that has been colonized.”