Hernán

I really wanted to like this series, but with all of the flashbacks and jumps forward in time, I'm getting seasick. Just tell a story and don't try to be so clever. They make this same mistake in the series El Marginal.

This playing around with the timeline isn't clever; it's highly annoying and takes away from what could have been a great narrative. They have squandered a big budget and some fine actors by resorting to film school tricks.

I was impressed by the historical accuracy of 'Hernán' in spite of what I thought were too many flash-backs and flash-forwards. The series presents what I think is a balanced approach to the Conquest (or Invasion) of México. The Spaniards are neither heroes nor villains, but men in search of wealth, and the Mexica (not 'Aztecs', thank God) are neither savages nor victims, but men defending their homes against superior fire power. I particularly liked the appropriate use of the Nahuatl and Mayas languages in addition to Spanish, even though all three must have changed significantly in the last 500 years (about the same period of time that English has evolved from Shakespeare) NOTE: the word 'Aztec' was not used by anyone at the time of the Conquest, but came into use almost 300 years later, ina history of México published in Italy by a Franciscan who had be expelled from México.

Very much worth a binge. I watched it in Prime in two 4 episode nights.

At home, my mother was an avid reader of history and as a High Schooler she made me read the epic book "The True Story of The Conquest of New Spain" by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (2 volumes, written in XVI Century "Castellano", the term Spain hadn't been created yet).

As far as I know, the Aztec culture, as well as the events leading to the "Noche Triste" (Sad Night, the first defeat of Cortés by the rebellious Mexicas) are very well portrayed. Some parts of the series are made up and romanticized but nevertheless are fitting to the plot. Modern archeology and history scholars have also contributed much to our present day knowledge of the times, that the original Díaz del Castillo obligedly omitted from his much redacted revisions.

The series as historic entertainment is not only dramatic and gripping but also very much humane. It emphasizes the clash of two cultures with a crudeness that permeates any attempt of smoothing the tension the arrival of Cortés' group created among the nations then populating the area.

For people not familiar with Mexico's hirtory, it will show how far from "savages" were the people. Human sacrifices was a horrific custom that was accepted by all the nations of Mezzoamerica and in a way not much more shocking than Roman practices of crucifictions, circus and roman candles (tarred Christians set on fire to lit Roman streets). Yet, Romans are considered a great civilization while Aztecs are deemed savages.

The only reason that kept me from giving it a ten star rating is the casting of the main character, Hernán Cortés. From Bernal Díaz we know he was fair skinned and probably brown haired, as natives thought of him as Quetzalcoatl. Not as nordic as Pedro de Alvarado who was called Tonathiu (the sun) by the Mexica but certainly not as dark as Oscar Jaenada is. We must remember Moors had just been expelled from Southern Spain and Cortés was a Castillian, thus of Celt ancestry. The rest of the cast is perfect and comprised of great actors.

Script, direction, special effects, sound, acting --even Spanish accent- are all exquisitely delivered.

I cannot wait for the second season to be delivered.

The series try to tell us one of the most dramatic and interesting stories that happened ever in the course of the human history of this planet. The story of the conquest of the New World; of Cortez and Moktesuma! It's useless to say I like the idea behind the movie, not so much the performance, alas. Even older, Apocalypto is stil better, such kind of movie cries for the best possible financing in order for the final result to be satisfying. The task is not easy - recreating a world so totally different from ours, with 99 % of its architecture destroyed, with massive battles involving thousands of participants. And I would like to see them in movie with this plot, not Gandhi! Anyway, the movie is far from bad, worth seeing. And we can thank its creators for the effort!

The show is entertaining and the actors do a good job. However, it is very unrealistic. Native Mexicas are depicted as good-hearted people (like Rousseau's Noble Savage) who accidentally sacrifice and oppress other humans without bad intentions. If you ignore this absurd premise, it is a good show.