Epitafio (2015) User Reviews

Interesting historical drama that isn't overwhelmed thanks to its short length.

[rafael_jaramillo_avellan · 7/10 · 15 October 2016]

If you look close, you realize it tells you a lot more than a retelling of a fracture from the Spanish Conquest. The dialogue and acting feels theatrical and the low budget of the movie is slightly evident; nevertheless, the journey and message is attractive, and the breathtaking cinematography combined with the landscapes help a lot. When the movie ended I didn't believed that the movie was just a showing of an important event in American (Continent, not USA) history. I took a deep thinking about what I saw, and I believe this:

The story is seen through the three different perspectives of the journey: Pedro, who is the young weak soldier who won't be able to climb to the top; Gonzalo, the loyal companion of his captain who tries to understand why are they climbing to the top; and finally, Don Diego, the strong and determined conqueror who sees more than just and order in climbing to the top.

Maybe, the story tries to make a deep reflection about the complexity of the human spirit. How far can we go in order to achieve a goal? Where is our breaking point? Pedro doesn't find the meaning in climbing, Gonzalo climbs because of curiosity, and Don Diego climbs because he searches meaning. That is another spot, the search for meaning. Don Diego climbs because he wants to be remembered, he wants to be important and leave a meaningful legacy. Deep inside us, we search for that in our daily actions.

Something that I highlight from the movie is the ending. That crucial moment when they reach the top of Popocatépetl and Don Diego launches his Conquest monologue; it's an important commentary on the social and cultural aspects of what happened in the Spanish Conquest (Also, Gonzalo makes an important observation about the brutality against the American natives, just before reaching the top). We were conquered (I'm Ecuadorian), slaughtered and forced to adopt a religion. What happened in those centuries defined what we are now, our social, cultural and religious identity. Don Diego is a man who doesn't feel pity for the people murdered or the consequences of his journey to the top, but in the end, he played a significant role in the defeat of an empire. That defeat and many others are the ones that defined who we are now in Latin America.

FINAL CONSENSUS: Filled with a deep message and cultural and social commentary, Epitafio works fine thanks to its short length, otherwise it would be extremely boring.

One of the surprises of this movie year

[andychrist27 · 9/10 · 4 December 2015]

It was shown in Tallinn Black Nights Film festival and the makers of the film were there too and provided some background. Apparently this movie was inspired by Herzog's "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" and the source material which got the entire project going was found from some diary of a conquistador which Herzog had suggested to read. Like many works of the great German director, this one was also very much an extreme film-making project, with a very small crew and filmed on location on the slopes of the volcano. The result, while maybe lacking "Aguirre's" emotional intensity, is nevertheless excellent and beautiful.

Pretty much the entire movie follows three characters testing their resolve in extreme conditions. Historical dramas usually require vast and elaborate sets to bring the viewer hundreds of years back in time. This one doesn't, as wild nature provides the backdrop and it hasn't changed a lot over time.

The main protagonist in here is Diego de Ordaz, one of the forgotten characters of La Conquista. Cortez has given him the task of reaching the top of the Popocatépetl, which during most of the movie seems like an absurd challenge but it does have a practical goal which we find out only at the end credits. In Ordaz we see a man who has illusions of grandeur, who wants to go down in history as somebody who did his great part in bringing down the Aztec kingdom. Given that there was a very limited number of conquistadors in the Americas and those few hundred men tried to bring down vast empires and even succeeded at this... it seems that the only thing which sometimes kept them going was a belief in some kind of divine providence, of succeeding against all odds. It looks close to madness and yet it produced results. This movie studies the mental state of these men very convincingly while not judging them, and this is its main virtue.