{"id":16540,"date":"2020-05-21T21:55:14","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T01:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=16540"},"modified":"2021-08-09T11:50:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T15:50:37","slug":"499-tribeca-film-festival-review-part2-greggwmorris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/499-tribeca-film-festival-review-part2-greggwmorris\/","title":{"rendered":"5Ws&H Film Review of Award Winning, Mind Blowing 499<\/em><\/strong><\/span> – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Director Rodrigo Reyes: Anamorphic Lens, Collaboration of Characters and Real People, Mexico & the 500\u200bth Anniversary\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Spanish\u00a0Conquest<\/h3>\n
\n

In Mexico, we are incredibly proud of our indigenous past, yet continue to value and celebrate whiteness in the present. We are in dire need of an exorcism of the ghosts that haunt our worldview.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Visually, the use of anamorphic lenses and a classic narrative language helped to bring both worlds together, past and present, into a single universe. It also served a greater\u00a0 purpose \u2013 to\u00a0 decolonize\u00a0 the\u00a0 epic\u00a0 gaze.\u00a0 Although\u00a0 I\u00a0 love\u00a0 big\u00a0 Hollywood period pieces, they are told in the language of imperial grandeur. Widescreen is the format\u00a0 of\u00a0 epic, important,\u00a0 and\u00a0 almost\u00a0 exclusively\u00a0 white\u00a0 and\u00a0 western\u00a0 stories. By appropriating it and taking it out to the streets, beaches and mountaintops of Mexico, I wanted to subvert the gaze of empire and turn it inside out.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our world is incredibly complex. Cinema should empower us to re-imagine it.The theme of the legacy of the Conquest of Mexico is vast and complicated. Not\u00a0 only was history written by the victors, but any interpretation of the event turns political immediately.\u00a0 When you add the layer of modern\u00a0 Mexico, it\u00a0 becomes\u00a0 impossible to summarize or explain it in easily digested bites.<\/em><\/p>\n

I wanted the film to make room for everyone to be a part\u00a0of the experience and build their own\u00a0 interpretations.\u00a0I arrived\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0 character of an anonymous, wandering conquistador who could serve as a link between modern Mexico and its painful\u00a0colonial past, a\u00a0ghost, a vessel for the audience to experience this unique journey.<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nThe conquistador is fiction, but he has to find his place in the real world by listening, for perhaps the first time, to the stories of the real people impacted by new modes of colonial violence.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Every\u00a0one\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0real\u00a0people\u00a0featured\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0film\u00a0agreed\u00a0to\u00a0participate\u00a0and\u00a0collaborate with the project only after speaking with me about the thesis at the heart of the film.<\/em><\/p>\n

I tried to be as transparent and honest as possible with my perspective and why I felt\u00a0 that\u00a0 their\u00a0 stories\u00a0 were\u00a0 necessary\u00a0 to\u00a0 the\u00a0 project. I shared my core ideas with them: \u201cThe violence that you have endured and have been impacted by is connected\u00a0 to\u00a0 an\u00a0 older, original\u00a0 violence\u00a0 from\u00a0 the\u00a0 Conquistadors. That violence has transformed itself into new forms, but the essence remains the same.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And most importantly, with regards to the conquistador: \u201cThis man was sent here to listen. For the first time, he must keep quiet and bear witness to the pain and truth of the victims. This is an opportunity for him to decolonize himself through his meeting with you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 attacks\u00a0 against\u00a0 journalists<\/a> echo the burning of religious texts and erasure of\u00a0 indigenous myths. The exodus of migrants reflects the diaspora created by the taking of ancestral lands. The wave of feminicides, killing women across Mexico<\/a> is akin to the enslavement and rape of thousands of indigenous women. <\/em>Only\u00a0 when\u00a0 the\u00a0 real\u00a0people\u00a0agreed\u00a0to\u00a0this\u00a0thesis\u00a0did\u00a0we\u00a0proceed to\u00a0enter\u00a0their\u00a0spaces with the film. They are the true experts, the ones living with the consequences of this cycle of violence.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I also was open to their creative input. How would you like to interact with the conquistador? What would you like him to learn about your story? This is why the interactions in the film are all different and unique, each with its own approach to the presence of the conquistador, because each real person was deeply involved in the building of their scenes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mexico has a particularly fraught relationship to its colonial history. Whitewashed, contorted\u200b, and disguised for nationalistic and patriotic purposes for centuries, the country\u2019s history is fundamentally tied to the structures of power.<\/em><\/p>\n

The humanitarian crisis in Mexico has reached a fever-pitch, even more intense than at the time the film was produced. And yet, much like the conquistador, the central government is trying to minimize the scope of the crisis and undermine the voices calling for justice and accountability.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Our characters, the real people featured in the film, are caught up in this movement and\u00a0 are\u00a0 seeking\u00a0 new\u00a0 platforms\u00a0 to\u00a0 expand\u00a0 their\u00a0 efforts\u00a0 and\u00a0 push\u00a0 for\u00a0 effective\u00a0 transformation of policy and societal attitudes. In that sense, we hope to use \u200b499 to support their efforts by sharing their struggles with a new and broader audience.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mexico is plagued with contradictions, deeply rooted in the unresolved moments of its past. Much like the United States has refused to acknowledge and address the legacy of slavery, Mexican society desperately needs to have a conversation around colonialism and the ways in which its processes have been perpetuated to this day.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gregg W. Morris can be reached at gregghc@comcast.net or profgreggwmorris@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The humanitarian crisis in Mexico has reached a fever-pitch, even more intense than at the time the film was produced. And yet, much like the conquistador, the central government is trying to minimize the scope of the crisis and undermine the voices calling for justice and accountability.”
By Gregg W. Morris<\/p>\n

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