Mexican Sensation Films More Balanced View
By Connor O'Rourke
A&F Writer

With the praise and recognition surrounding Pomona's recent acqusition of acclaimed writer David Foster Wallace, another new faculty member with equally glowing credentials has been lost amongst the celebrity fervor. Salvador Carrasco is the second recipient of the annual Moseley Fellowship (given last year to author Janet Fitch). Carrasco is the writer, director and editor of The Other Conquest, one of Mexico's highest grossing films in its cinematic history (the first to surpass $200 million in box office earnings). I had the opportunity to see his film Monday night in a free screening sponsored by the English Department.

His film explores the Spanish conquest of Aztec Mexico, not just over the territory, but about the less documented battle over the soul. The story follows a young Aztec warrior named Topiltzin and the efforts made by a devout friar and by Hernando Cortes himself aimed at transforming this native's Pagan beliefs into their own Christian values.

From the brief synopsis of the movie and the historical context in which we immediately perceive it, the plot seems to be another traditional plight of the indian, good versus evil, moral epic. Yet while such films as Last of the Mohicans lead us to make a clear cut moral judgement between the two sides, The Other Conquest takes us on a journey through both pairs of eyes and leaves us feeling that perhaps we all wear the same prescription lenses in the end.

In a particularly powerful scene near the beginning, an Aztec human sacrifice is made to seem both horrific and beautiful, morally abhorrent and honorably sacred. As the Catholic friar exclaims upon bearing witness to the ritual "they truly are from another world." Yet Topiltzin might have said the same thing as he struggles to understand the significance behind the statue of the Virgin Mary that is lugged around by the Spanish soldiers and spoken of with reverence.

Visually, the film is a true masterpiece and shows Carrasco's natural talent behind the camera. Essentially, the story is told through visual representation and driven home by powerful images of death, religion, confusion and salvation. Often it may seem over the top as he is almost too effective in evoking certain emotions and when able to look past the cinematic blanket of feeling, it can seem overly mythological and archetypical. Nonetheless, for his first film he has accomplished feats with his actors, camera and budget that most directors never realize.

Carrasco began researching background information for the film while he was still studying at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In an informal question and answer session after the screening he spoke of how he would find two totally different accounts of the same event, one from the view of the conquered and the other from the view of the conquerors. "The point is to understand the motivations of both sides. History is not about passing moral judgement," he said to the capacity crowd that showed up to see the film in Rose Hills Theatre.

Interestingly, it was the lack of these same moral delineations that forced Carrasco to fund the film almost totally independently. "I literally knocked on about 200 doors. About 180 of those slammed it in my face. But those 20 gave us enough to film for maybe a week, until we could find some more resources. In total, it took fifty days to shoot, however with the segmented and unpredictable funding, the project was spread out over seven years, between 1992 and 1999. Final cost: about $2 million, or roughly what Tom Cruise's room service bill might be for a major Hollywood production.

"In the end, it was good that it was funded independently because we could then assume total responsibility for the film," Carrasco explained. And his risk paid off, as its high gross in Mexico encouraged Universal Studios to distribute it nationally in the United States.

Carrasco is currently signed on to direct the sequel to Dances with Wolves, called "The Holy Road", a film he hopes to be about "the Indians and not Kevin Costner." Interestingly, it will also feature the actor Damian Delgado, the Mexican Indian professional dancer who played Topiltzin.

It is clear that Hollywood and America are beginning to embrace Carrasco and foreign filmmakers in general with the recent success of such movies as Y Tu Mama Tambien and Amelie.

"I came to America because of the intrinsic values of meritocracy floating around. I have found that to be my experience so far," Carrasco explained to the crowd. Perhaps we are too cynical to believe this ourselves as Americans, but if Hollywood, the most capitalistic junkie of all institutions is adopting it, perhaps there is hope for the rest of us as well.