Upon the 500-year anniversary of the Spanish Conquest, a ghostly Conquistador arrives in modern Mexico. As he journeys toward the capital city, he remembers events from his past while encountering the testimonies of real people, the survivors of contemporary violence. History and the present begin to merge, giving a nightmarish reflection on the enduring legacy of colonialism in our world today.
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs and Best Cinematography Award at Tribeca, the Unique docu-fiction hybrid “499,” by Rodrigo Reyes, opens Friday, August 20th at BAM Rose Cinemas in New York City, followed by Los Angeles and San Francisco, before Opening Nationwide. “499” deconstructs the notorious conquistador, Hernán Cortés’ (Eduardo San Juan Breña). Director Rodrigo Reyes reconstructs his journey from the shores of Veracruz to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (currently Mexico City). As the performer interacts with real victims and subjects of Mexico’s failed drug wars, “Reyes portrays the country’s current humanitarian crisis as part of a vicious and unfinished colonial project, still in motion, nearly five-hundred years later.”
After a freak storm sends Cortés into our dystopian future, he saunters down a Mexican beach in clunky armor. At first, this juxtaposition of aesthetics threw me off, but it works. Cortés visits an elementary school to deliver a speech praising the Holy Roman Empire and their conquest of savages. He rambles on until he collapses and is unable to speak. For the duration, Cortés only speaks in voice-over remaining silent on-screen.
For the documentary’s compact running time it is impressive how many people are interviewed: vigilantes, activists, police officers, grieving families, a sicario (hitman), and migrants. The first subject, a young man who lost his father, shares that over three hundred thousand people have been killed in the Mexican Drug War (more than the Syrian War). Reyes’ camera gently pans around the house showing pictures of the victim, killed for being a journalist and an activist. Next, a group of activists made up of mourning families is featured checking vegetation and puncturing the soil searching for mass graves that are too rampant. One mother has been searching for her son for five years and four months. This heart-wrenching border violence was brilliantly dramatized in the recent “La Civil.”
A group of migrant workers details reasons for leaving their homeland. Most workers cite constant threats or attempted forced recruitment by the cartel. One of the veteran migrants explains how traffickers will drop returning migrants 1 km from the actual location so thieves can rob them of their earnings. A harrowing scene shows the migrants perilously jumping on a train heading North to remain undetected. Some people are successful while others fall on the gravel. The interview with the well-armed sicario – who brings out an arsenal of guns – shows how much the advancement of weapons and surge of guns from the US increases violence.
Reyes’s dialectical approach – blending performance art, history, and contemporary issues with true subjects – is bold. Reyes was inspired by Frantz Fanon, a philosopher who analyzed the ongoing drastic effects brought on by colonialism and post-colonialism. By continuing the work of Fanon, this intellectual filmmaking is both a stimulating and rewarding experience to reflect on this national crisis.
Opens at the BAM Rose Cinemas in New York City, followed by Los Angeles
and San Francisco, before opening nationwide Friday, August 20th
