Opiniones de usuarios

This movie has the tone of an epic story and a universal message of tolerance. The beautiful shots and the storytelling grab you from the first image and bring the audience in a journey through history following the uneasy path of the main character. But the story is never easy to guess and the feeling to witness something real is what keeps you on the edge of your seat. The characters never feel one-dimensional or convenient, they are part of the story and their historical role is portrayed in details. But there is something more: the story behind the movie. The making of it is, per se, an amazing adventure that every aspiring filmmaker must see.

La Otra Conquista is a contrast of two religions, one believes in sacrificing its own people to its Goddess and the other wants to seemingly sacrifice other peoples to the Mother of God. This makes for interesting contrast. It would have been far more interesting, had it delved further into how the Aztecs hid their religion inside the Catholic faith (Substituting their Goddess with the Virgin Mary, etc.), but this area was not fully explored. Damián Delgado shows, once again what an under appreciated actor he is and the beautiful Elpidia Carrillo gives another one of her performances that makes you wonder why the hell she isn't a household name. In fact, the whole cast does an exceptional job. In brief, it may not be as profound as it set out to be, but it's more than worth taking a look at.

This film explores the relationships between politics, religion, spirituality, and culture, focusing on some true and some fabricated events of the Spanish invasion of the Aztecs. Biting, the film charges with the idea that the nature of culture and the strength of a highly traditional belief system is not conquerable. Stressing the strength and perseverance of the human will, the film yields unforgettable images, some that stress the deep connection between humanity and religion. One immortal image is of a statue of the Virgin Mary being carefully supported down from a high place with ropes. In this image, the true condition of organized religion is viewed; one that is undeniably buttressed by the will of the people.

With this powerful look at cross-cultural interactions and the strong statements about the role of the missionary, the movie grips its audience, leaving us with a feeling that all human beliefs are related and filtered by our very similar eyes. The message that this movie sends about religious disputes is one of great importance and even greater shrewdness on the part of the movie's creators.

The subject matter of this film--the forced "Christianization" of the Aztecs--is a provocative topic and could have been made into a compelling film. Unfortunately, "La Otra Conquista" is not that film.

What "La Otra Conquista" does well is presenting the richness of the Aztec culture in great detail. The director, Salvador Carrasco, spent much time researching the era to bring an authentic feel to this piece. The cinematography, production design, costumes, makeup, are all excellent. For further detail, just see the wonderful website created for the movie.

So what's wrong with this film? 1) The script. It needs to be more narrative and less didactic. It's too concerned with its message that the characterization suffers as a result. Furthermore, it felt as if the "look" of each scene determined how the characters were going to behave. As a result, the film is long and tedious. 2) The direction. This film needs to adapt a more direct narrative and avoid "arty" gimmicks (such as replicating Diego Rivera images) which take away from the purpose of the film. Because of Mexico's complex history, the subject matter can be difficult to understand (even for the informed), and the direction doesn't help much in this regard.

Looking at Mr. Carrasco's credits on the IMDB I noticed that this is his first film as a director. It is a remarkable achievement, however one that unfortunately does not do the subject matter justice. Hopefully he can do what Robert Rodriguez did with "El Mariachi" and be given the opportunity to remake his first film. 6/10

This is the most powerful, unforgettable and life-altering film I've seen in ages. It's amazing that I'm Irish and I felt it was about the story of my people, even though it's about the Aztecs and Spanish. What's wrong with you distributors out there? Why isn't this film playing nationwide?!?!?

This review should be read after reading the Plot Summary.

The Other Conquest's main message is about tolerance and acceptance. The film takes a bird eye view of the religious world and contemplates the "truth". The physical material used in the movie create a great sense of authenticity. The cinematography and editing help to enhance this sixteenth century timepiece with the use of special color filtered lenses and long detailed mental disturbance sequences. The main star plays his role with a natural style allowing us to see his troubled dilemma easily. Authenticity is very important to Salvador Carrasco because his vision of the past is based on over two years of research. The Other Conquest is a mind-boggling film, which contains great representation of injustice.

Production design entails extravagant costumes and highly detailed face paintings. There is a cathedral with spectacular designs and a The Great Temple shot on location. Topiltzin (Played by: Damián Delgado) is able to suggest the role of a repressed person with his submissive acting change midway through the movie. The editing is sharp, to the point with direct powerful imagery, while the cinematography is more graphic and stylistic with use of filters (opening scene) and rotating cameras (rope scene).

The movie is one of the highest grossing films in Mexico, which makes a lot of sense. The director had to struggle with the Mexican government because of his challenging view on the established accepted history. Plus the placement of the Native American playing as a protagonist role didn't help his struggle. This movie has a deep history of conflict and oppression. In Mexico there are still Native Americans discriminated against today and Mr. Carrasco is bringing more awareness to tolerance and acceptance to fight injustice.

The Other Conquest is one of the best films that I have ever seen.BUT it is neither for the squeamish nor the prudish. It is based on the consequences of the Spanish Military Conquest of Mexico led by Hernán Cortés in the early sixteenth century. The Other Conquest is set against this backdrop and explores the religious conquest of Topiltzin, the son of the Aztec King, Montezuma, and his favorite mistress. It is powerful yet beautiful; educational yet entertaining; sexual yet romantic; brutal yet compassionate. The director, Salavdor Carrasco, expertly weaves these contrasts into a film that grabs your attention from the beginning and takes you on an astonishing E-Ticket ride. The photography is stunning and the music is captivating. You will not forget this film. The only problem will be finding it. As I write this in September 2001, I have been looking for it for almost a year. I only recently learned that a small number of videos (without English subtitles) are available. Hopefully Señor Carrasco will release an English subtitled version of this Great film very soon. This film deserves a much wider audience than it has had.

The Other Conquest is a realistic portrayal of the religious disputes that occurred between Aztecs and Spanish conquistadors. I think it is great that a native Aztec actor played the native Aztec character; that is not something we see every day. I find its success to be inspiring in the sense that a movie with this particular subject matter does not usually see a lot of success in Hollywood. The movie was very well-made and quite well-acted. The locations that were shot were very beautiful. I also appreciated that the female character in the film was actually independent and had a voice. In conclusion, I thought that this film was very interesting and I would recommend it to anyone who cares about history.

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.

La otra conquista, tells our story not only as a nation, but as the human race. The true spirit of will and resistance is achieved through the filmed story and through the story behind the film. The movie is about the memory of the past of Mexico and its memory of the future. The memory of the past, obviously is evident through this piece of art, but the memory of the future, is the reassurance of our inheritance as a culture, of our will, of our human spirit. Once I claimed that the author of the film leaved his homecountry, now I understand better in what sense he has contributed mayorly with our culture, with our country. He has sent a message of tolerance to eternity. As a mexican I am grateful for this. Could we remember this film for our own sake?

The Other Conquest is a film that can appeal to some and offend others. The subject matter deals with the complexity of the Spanish conquering the Aztecs and the "conversion" of this primitive religion to the Catholic. The storyline draws you in, wanting to know what happens to the main character and his people. The historical context is used greatly in telling the story of so many ancestors and the heritage that the Mexican people came from. As a pre cursor to Apocalypto, it tells of the after math of Cortez conquering the Aztec people. Symbolically it is strong with religious meaning as well as culturally. As for the film making itself, the film score is great and tells the story on an emotional level. The cinematography is dynamic in capturing the landscapes and structures of both cultures.

The only reason there are reviews and decent ratings on this film is because the director gives his students credit for reviewing it on here. It's disgusting and pathetic. The school should not allow it and this site should not allow it.

The film was terrible, boring, cheesy, over-acted, and my least favorite film of all time. I don't think it's appealing to anyone in this day-and-age and one must consider that it's not hard to be a high grossing Mexican film, especially for the time it was made...

IMDb should discredit this films rating and reviews because they are obviously unfairly given and dishonest.

Most of us see different films for different reasons; escape to other places or times, a couple of hours of laughter or beautiful cinematography, a chance to look at people who are like no one we know (or exactly like someone we know), a chance to hear some beautiful new music while watching an exciting drama unfold, or perhaps an important lesson about life or history or even about ourselves. Rarely do all these elements come together in one film, but this is the case with La Otra Conquista.

There is no need to belabor the narrative since so many others have done that here, but even that is refreshing since I don't remember another film that looks at the conquest of this continent from the point of view of those who were here first. It is one of the few times they are not portrayed as a bunch of happy slappy childlike natives or murderin' savages out to rape the virginal white women.

It is an amazing achievement in so many ways. After the years of struggle and the unbelievably huge obstacles in the path of this dramatization of the last days of the great Aztec empire it's a wonder it was ever completed. It's almost as if forces were still, even now, trying to stamp out their history and their story. But despite the small budget, the years of piece-by-piece shooting, and those who wanted the shameful, dead past to stay dead, La Otra Conquista was made.

I am listening to the soundtrack as I write this, and the music is as haunting as it was the first time I heard it. The theme that recurs throughout the film appears again and again, sometimes sounding like a monks' plainsong, sometimes like a sacred wise man's chant, until finally it becomes a painful, funereal dirge crying out for the lost past. The music alone made the film worth seeing; nothing like the voice of Placido Domingo to make people sit still and be quiet while the credits are rolling!

I can only add this: Unless you need your films dumb and lightweight and meaningless, you owe it to yourself to see what was Mexico's biggest home grown hit in history and should have been that country's entry in the Academy Awards. Ironically, the very subject of the film makes it clear why this didn't happen: Our past is always with us. See it if you're lucky enough.

This film is one that has been long overdue. As a retired captain/World War II veteran and professor, anyone would agree with me that this film was written, directed and produced by the eye of a genius. The location, the props, the set design and wardrobe, not excluding the actors were all outstanding. Furthermore, the message is one of tolerance, respect and peace for all of humanity. Where America is in the midst of youth violence, hatred and racial tension, truly this film is a must for all people who work towards peace and harmony for our future leaders. It is this type of film that delivers a message of unity---which can be spelled UNITED STATES, which is what we are and what we must be true to. Most importantly, it truly is a riveting piece of art, which triggers your imagination---it is a MUST see!!!

This movie is beautifully put together, considering how low budget it is.Much to my surprise, this movie is focused more on the phsycological side of a colonisation rather than the plundering, scorching earth that we usually saw in this type of movie.

The movie is well acted, considering this is the lead role's first movie. There is just enough violence/sex to titillate and arouse the mind without feeling it's just for the "shock value".

8.5 out of 10 I can see that with a bigger budget, this movie could be more visually stunning.

Boy.....just manipulate history! Not good actors. Faky scenes. Not good dialogue. Plain NOT GOOD. Save your money!

I was so disappointed. I had a few expectations of seeing some beautiful and painful history. I was very saddened when I saw this film.

The Other Conquest is set in the 1500s and deals the aftermath of The Spanish Conquest of Mexico. We get but a glimpse into the consequences of a rich culture, that is the Aztec Empire filled with its beliefs and the resistance to colonization in the main character Topilzin, who is the illegitimate son of the Aztec Emperor Mocteczuma. Made to change your religion, culture and all that is known to you. Could you? Should you? Would there be a resistance? This tale was quite vivid and gripping in emotional. This country being the melting pot that it is , more stories of past history should be told with as much vigorous spirit, Slavador Carrasco as shown with his first leap out, the Directors' seat.

"The Other Conquest" remains the best, most engaging film yet made about the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the immense cultural, even religious changes that came about as a result. Director Salvador Carrasco has found a way to weave the history of the Conquest with a vastly entertaining, moving human story that bring characters and events to life with stunning clarity and impact. Carrasco's script is an interesting blend of analysis and questions, as he looks at the Conquest and asks universal questions about what happens when one culture imposes itself on another, or when faiths and religions clash. But for students of history and society, the most fascinating aspect of the film is how it shows the roots of what is today standard Catholic dogma in Mexico. How the particular church native to Mexico really came about as a hybrid fusion between the Catholicism brought over by the Spanish and the indigenous beliefs of the Aztec people, who found a way to keep their traditions alive while still adapting to the new forms of life forced on them by the invaders. "The Other Conquest" is also a cinematic gem in its execution. The cinematography is gorgeous, the sets and costumes fantastic, and the music by Jorge Reyes and Samuel Zyman hypnotic. The performances by the cast are also stellar and better than your average costume epic acting. "The Other Conquest" is a great alternative to Mel Gibson's bloody, shallow "Apocalypto," which had a more science fiction point of view, here the film vibrates with life and understanding, and a message just as important in the age of Iraq as ever.