Indie 'Conquest' re-enters U.S.
"The Other Conquest" (La Otra Conquista), a Mexican film about the Aztecs' struggle against the Spanish conquerors in the 16th century, is getting a second chance at a theatrical release -- seven years after its first bowed theatrically in the U.S.
Indie distributor Union Station Media, the new joint venture between Canada's Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution and Australia's Arclight Films, will rerelease the film May 4 on 50 screens in Texas, Nevada and Fresno, Calif., as well as in New Mexico. On May 11, it will open in New York and go wider in Texas, moving on in subsequent weeks to markets where there is a significant Hispanic population. There are no plans to play the film in Los Angeles, where it appeared during its first release.
Written and directed by Salvador Carrasco and produced by Alvaro Domingo, the film stars Damian Delgado ("Men With Guns"), Elpidia Carrillo ("Tortilla Heaven"), Jose Carlos Rodriguez and Inaki Aierra. Placido Domingo is executive producer and is featured on the soundtrack singing an aria composed for the movie.
Indie distributor Union Station Media, the new joint venture between Canada's Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution and Australia's Arclight Films, will rerelease the film May 4 on 50 screens in Texas, Nevada and Fresno, Calif., as well as in New Mexico. On May 11, it will open in New York and go wider in Texas, moving on in subsequent weeks to markets where there is a significant Hispanic population. There are no plans to play the film in Los Angeles, where it appeared during its first release.
Written and directed by Salvador Carrasco and produced by Alvaro Domingo, the film stars Damian Delgado ("Men With Guns"), Elpidia Carrillo ("Tortilla Heaven"), Jose Carlos Rodriguez and Inaki Aierra. Placido Domingo is executive producer and is featured on the soundtrack singing an aria composed for the movie.
- 4/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'The Other Conquest' A Hit-and-Miss 'Conquest' / Mexican epic set in 1521 is visually arresting but not likely to connect with U.S. audiences
A huge hit in its native Mexico, "The Other Conquest" isn't exactly your typical crowd-pleasing fare.
Set during the aftermath of the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, the epic drama is a visually arresting if overwrought portrait of a subsequent spiritual battle to preserve cultural and religious identity.
But while somewhat reminiscent, stylistically and thematically, of 1998's "Elizabeth", this assured directorial debut from Salvador Carrasco (who also handled screenplay and editing chores) is a bit of an endurance test.
It's unlikely to strike the same kind of emotional chord with U.S. audiences, though given a release pattern that pays close attention to areas with a healthy Latino presence -- not to mention generous helpings of nudity and violence -- it could end up doing respectable business.
Filmed on location in Mexico City and environs, the story begins at the site of the Great Temple of Mexico, whose sacred grounds are strewn with the bodies of Aztec priests and nobility slaughtered by the Spanish army under the command of noted conqueror Hernando Cortes (Inaki Aierra).
The only person to survive the massacre is Topiltzin (Damian Delgado), a young Indian codex scribe who stayed alive by taking refuge under a pile of corpses. The illegitimate son of Emperor Moctezuma, he's eventually captured by Spanish troops, but his life is again spared when his half-sister Tecuichpo (Elpidia Carrillo), who happens to be one of Cortes' mistresses, makes an appeal on his behalf.
Instead of death, Topiltzin is brutally flogged before being taken under the wing of Fray Diego (Jose Carlos Rodriguez), a Spanish friar whose life mission is to make the "savages" see the errors of their human-sacrificing ways and accept the Virgin Mary into their empty lives. While Topiltzin (now rechristened Tomas) has taken up residence in a monastery, he remains an uneasy convert despite the friar's well-meaning efforts to save his soul.
With its powerful images and a fiercely dedicated performance by the agile Delgado, "The Other Conquest" makes for a potent history lesson -- but one that runs its course long before the film does.
After a while, the endlessly restated themes of religious persecution and cultural annihilation start getting tiresome, no matter how vividly portrayed. Newcomer Carrasco and cinematographer Arturo de La Rosa have a rich visual sense that lends this modestly budgeted effort an impressive luster.
Aurally, Samuel Zyman's symphonics and Jorge Reyes' indigenous strains provide a nice harmonic counterpoint to the picture's cultural conflicts. They're topped off by an appropriately elegiac aria performed by producer Alvaro Domingo's father, Placido.
THE OTHER CONQUEST
Hombre D'Oro
Carrasco & Domingo Films presents an Alvaro Domingo production of a Salvador Carrasco film
Credits: Producer: Alvaro Domingo; Director-screenwriter: Salvador Carrasco; Executive producer: Placido Domingo; Director of photography: Arturo de la Rosa; Production designer: Andrea Sanderson; Editor: Salvador Carrasco; Costume designers: Rocio Ramirez, Angela Dodson; Music: Samuel Zyman, Jorge Reyes; Music supervisor: Andrea Sanderson. Cast: Topiltzin/Tomas: Damian Delgado; Fray Diego de La Coruna: Jose Carlos Rodriguez; Tecuichpo/Dona Isabel: Elpidia Carrillo; Hernando Cortes: Inaki Aierra; Capt. Cristobal Quijano: Honorato Magaloni; Indian Nun: Zaide Silvia Gutierrez. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 110 minutes.
Set during the aftermath of the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, the epic drama is a visually arresting if overwrought portrait of a subsequent spiritual battle to preserve cultural and religious identity.
But while somewhat reminiscent, stylistically and thematically, of 1998's "Elizabeth", this assured directorial debut from Salvador Carrasco (who also handled screenplay and editing chores) is a bit of an endurance test.
It's unlikely to strike the same kind of emotional chord with U.S. audiences, though given a release pattern that pays close attention to areas with a healthy Latino presence -- not to mention generous helpings of nudity and violence -- it could end up doing respectable business.
Filmed on location in Mexico City and environs, the story begins at the site of the Great Temple of Mexico, whose sacred grounds are strewn with the bodies of Aztec priests and nobility slaughtered by the Spanish army under the command of noted conqueror Hernando Cortes (Inaki Aierra).
The only person to survive the massacre is Topiltzin (Damian Delgado), a young Indian codex scribe who stayed alive by taking refuge under a pile of corpses. The illegitimate son of Emperor Moctezuma, he's eventually captured by Spanish troops, but his life is again spared when his half-sister Tecuichpo (Elpidia Carrillo), who happens to be one of Cortes' mistresses, makes an appeal on his behalf.
Instead of death, Topiltzin is brutally flogged before being taken under the wing of Fray Diego (Jose Carlos Rodriguez), a Spanish friar whose life mission is to make the "savages" see the errors of their human-sacrificing ways and accept the Virgin Mary into their empty lives. While Topiltzin (now rechristened Tomas) has taken up residence in a monastery, he remains an uneasy convert despite the friar's well-meaning efforts to save his soul.
With its powerful images and a fiercely dedicated performance by the agile Delgado, "The Other Conquest" makes for a potent history lesson -- but one that runs its course long before the film does.
After a while, the endlessly restated themes of religious persecution and cultural annihilation start getting tiresome, no matter how vividly portrayed. Newcomer Carrasco and cinematographer Arturo de La Rosa have a rich visual sense that lends this modestly budgeted effort an impressive luster.
Aurally, Samuel Zyman's symphonics and Jorge Reyes' indigenous strains provide a nice harmonic counterpoint to the picture's cultural conflicts. They're topped off by an appropriately elegiac aria performed by producer Alvaro Domingo's father, Placido.
THE OTHER CONQUEST
Hombre D'Oro
Carrasco & Domingo Films presents an Alvaro Domingo production of a Salvador Carrasco film
Credits: Producer: Alvaro Domingo; Director-screenwriter: Salvador Carrasco; Executive producer: Placido Domingo; Director of photography: Arturo de la Rosa; Production designer: Andrea Sanderson; Editor: Salvador Carrasco; Costume designers: Rocio Ramirez, Angela Dodson; Music: Samuel Zyman, Jorge Reyes; Music supervisor: Andrea Sanderson. Cast: Topiltzin/Tomas: Damian Delgado; Fray Diego de La Coruna: Jose Carlos Rodriguez; Tecuichpo/Dona Isabel: Elpidia Carrillo; Hernando Cortes: Inaki Aierra; Capt. Cristobal Quijano: Honorato Magaloni; Indian Nun: Zaide Silvia Gutierrez. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 110 minutes.
- 5/2/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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