The Other Conquest

The Other Conquest
(La Otra Conquista)

I had a feeling the lecture was going to be a bit boring, however to my benefit they were showing a film. The Other Conquest otherwise known as La Otra Conquista. This film is a 1998 Mexican feature film written and directed by Salvador Corrasco. Corrasco is also a Film Studies professor at Santa Monica College. I was really amazed that he had the time to direct a film and teach students at Santa Monica College at the same time. It took the Professor/director seven years to finish The Other Conquest. Some of my fellow students and I from Speech 1 witnessed this Spanish Conquest of Mexico in the newly renovated lecture hall in room #165 at the Human Social Science building. Surround sound and a brand new projector were added to the lecture hall not to long ago so we were all in for a treat.
Damian Delgado stages as Topilzin, a writer and the illegitimate son of Montezuma, who finds himself at odds with his nation's new leadership after the Spanish Army puts down Tenocchititlan’s rule in 1520. Topilzin refuses to agree to the new state-imposed religion and, after narrowly avoiding apprehension following an incident in which he throws a rock at the Friar’s head, he's is later turned over to the militants by his brother, and detained in the presence of Hernando Cortes and his lover, Tecuichpo, the daughter of Montezuma. Thanks to the pleas of Cortes and Tecuichpo, Topilzin's life is spared, and instead for his altercation with the Friar in the past, Capt. Quijano whips him in public. After his chastisement and a spiritual epiphany, Topilzin gives up his career as an Author to become a Monk, and he joins an array led by Fray Diego the Friar he once attacked. La Otra Conquista proved to be a big box-office success in Mexico, enjoying the biggest opening weekend of any Mexican film in history on its home turf.
You don’t always see get to view a movie about the Mexican extermination. I enjoyed parts of the film, and even had...