La otra conquista (1998)

It is May 1520 in the vast Aztec Empire one year after the Spanish Conqueror Hernán Cortés' arrival in Mexico. "The Other Conquest" opens with the infamous massacre of the Aztecs at the ... See full summary »

Director:

Salvador Carrasco

Writer:

Salvador Carrasco

Stars:

Damián Delgado, José Carlos Rodríguez, Elpidia Carrillo

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Damián Delgado	...	Topiltzin / Tomás
José Carlos Rodríguez	...	Fray Diego de La Coruña
Elpidia Carrillo	...	Tecuichpo / Doña Isabel
Iñaki Aierra	...	Hernando Cortés
Honorato Magaloni	...	Capitán Cristóbal Quijano
Guillermo Ríos	...	Alanpoyatzin - hermano
Josefina Echánove	...	Nanahuatzin - abuela
Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez	...	Beata Conversa
Álvaro Guerrero	...	Rolando
Rufino Echegoyen	...	Fray Sebastián
Lourdes Villareal	...	Cihuacóatl - sumo sacerdote
Luisa Ávila	...	Xilonen - Princesa
Ramon Barragan	...	Ramón Quevedo - notario
Diana Bracho	...	Doña Juana
José Luis Caro	...	Padre Santa María (as José Luis Carol)

Storyline

It is May 1520 in the vast Aztec Empire one year after the Spanish Conqueror Hernán Cortés' arrival 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 new 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 civilised ...

---

Plot Keywords:

aztec | 1520s | indian | religion | native american | 

---

Taglines:

The spirit of a people transcends any conquest.

---

Genres:

Drama | History

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for scenes of violence and some strong sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Arenas Entertainment [us] Carrasco & Domingo Films USA, Inc.

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

1 April 1999 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

The Other Conquest

Filming Locations:

Convento de Acolman, Estado de México, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$305,308 (USA) (21 April 2000)

Gross:

$886,410 (USA) (19 May 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ADO Entertainment, Carrasco & Domingo Films S.A. de C.V., Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
Topiltzin: [in Nahuatl] Mother!

---

Crazy Credits

"The Other Conquest" is a historical fiction that, by combining real and fictitious characters and events, explores the period between the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1521 and the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531.

---

Soundtracks

"Aria 'Mater Aeterna'"
Performed by Plácido Domingo
Music by Samuel Zyman
Lyrics by Salvador Carrasco

User Reviews

Comments on a film I didn't like

Really, this movie can end up being amusing for the great public, although for any person that knows some history, will find big errors in it.

In the first place, why producers did not take care of the accent of the actors, which instead of speaking as Spaniards, looks like they were taken out of some private university of Mexico City.

In several scenes we watch Spaniards (three at most) loading with heavy gear, making an effort carry it, knowing that from the beginning of the conquest they had indigenous assistants. Anyone can recognize that the ruins that appears at the beginning are those of Monte Albán, in Oaxaca, belonging to the zapotec culture, quite far from the mexican culture.

Well we know about the pleasure of the natives to use fancy nose rings, to be perforated lips and earings, etc. what is not reflected in the film.

In the sacrifice ceremony, several characters that could not have been there appear. Well we know that the sacrifices were made by priests, colored and dresses of black that they never cut themselves the hair and they carried out the sacrifices in the high of the temples. The common ones saw the ceremony from the inferior part of the pyramids.

And the image of Virgin Mary is so strange, not realistic even now. It is not a proper representation of images of those times.