The Other Conquest (La Otra Conquista)

Being a lover of pre-Columbian cultures, I was very disappointed when I watched Apocalipto which, even though it had some beautiful scenes, photographically speaking, it lacked real substance. That's why I was so pleased when I found this movie, made many years before the Gibson's film. I don't know how it was possible I had never heard from it. I immediately felt connected with what I was seeing. It was an almost unexplained sense that this was right. Be aware that you will not find here either the tempo nor the simplicity you usually find in Hollywood movies. This is an art film, depicting the clash between two different ways of looking life and religion. I loved the Mexican characters. The women portrait a natural and non-spoiled beauty that is impossible to find in any Hollywood movie nowadays. And the protagonist, Topiltzin, seems like a character out of an Aztec code. I wish there were more movies about the Spanish conquest like this.

I saw this film in the theater in Mexico City around 1998, 8 years BEFORE Apocalypto. I was fascinated, there are very few Mexican productions of this quality. Over the years, I had lost hope to ever see it on DVD until now. To a point, I am thankful to Apocalypto because it brough attention to Mexican native topics, and made this film come back. Anyway, this is art cinema, not a popcorn movie like Apocalypto. They also correspond to very different chronology. I am really sad to see poor reviews because "it wasn't better than Apocalypto"... it wasn't meant to be, the box is misleading. La Otra Conquista has a lot of symbolism to Mexicans, both visually and verbally. I can understand some frustration in English-speaking viewers because a lot is lost in translation. The Nahuatl language spoken in many scenes is beautiful! The sets are astounding, while watching the movie, we played trying to identify the locations, it wasn't filmed in studios. The central story is not obvious, it is not a biography or adventure, but a succession of scenes showing the struggle of an indian of noble ascent that becomes a slave, his family and world torn apart, and forced to believe in a religion he doesn't understand. At the same time, the struggle of an Spanish priest whose world and beliefs are also challenged with new, uncompromised points of view, and the barbaric acts from his "civilized" compatriots. If you are only expecting some family fun and a bash of culture, this is not your film, and has nothing to do with Apocalypto, Indiana, or any other big Hollywood production. It isn't a documentary either. This is a deep film to prompt reflexion.

This film is not well made and I found it extremely hard to watch--it is slow moving, the acting is mediocre, the nudity is gratuitous and its message murky. As a professor who has taught on the Conquest and Colonialism in Latin America, I'm left waiting for a better film to be made; waiting...

This movie is just trash, not good at all. I wish I can give it -5 stars

This is one of those long, pretentious films that try to make several grandstanding statements at the same time, but end up telling nothing.

The setting of the film is so low-budget, and the acting by Damián Delgado so, so bad, that the general course of the action ends up being slow, dreamlike and unreal. The script also fails to give the actions of the main characters any predictability or recognizable rationale.


One goes along because of a general sense sympathy with the tenets of the movie, but one's patience is severely tried.

A totally confusing and forgettable rendition of an intrinsically interesting story and historical period.