Guest post by Sonia Manriquez.
Director Rodrigo Reyes was born in Mexico City and grew up in the United States where he attended the University of California San Diego. Reflecting these experiences, his films focus on the lives of Mexicans on both sides of the border. Purgatorio, his previous film, examines the landscapes near the border including mountains and deserts. In Purgatorio, Reyes depicts the violence that runs amok in Mexico by showing shots of cars covered with bullet holes, for example. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents eagerly share stories about migrants they have caught and returned to Mexico. With its brutal depiction of the border in Purgatorio, Reyes brought to the screen similar images to those carefully constructed by Gloria Anzaldua in her magnum opus Borderlands/La Frontera.
499 is an equally ambitious project, a curious blend of documentary combined with sci-fi elements. Reyes deploys a fictional, time-traveling conquistador to examine the violence that plagues modern Mexico. The film opens with a shot of a nameless conquistador waking up by the ocean. Our protagonist is a member of Hernán Cortés’ army who conquered the Aztecs 500 years ago, which is where the title comes from. The conquistador tracks back the path Cortés took from Veracruz to Tenochtitlan, present-day Mexico City.
In his visits, no one acts surprised when they come across or interact with the conquistador, who is dressed in traditional conquistador-garb, complete with a helmet and breastplate. In perhaps the most impressive directorial achievement of 499, the conquistador does not get a single person staring at him from afar and is treated as a regular person by those who interact with him.
In each stop, the protagonist hears wrenching stories told by real individuals. In a standout scene, a man in a luxury vehicle picks up the conquistador and shares stories about his time as a soldier during the war on drugs in Mexico. This is a surreal scene shared by two soldiers, members of two armies that caused a tremendous amount of violence in the nation. In another scene, a woman shares the gory details of the murder of her 12-year-old daughter. She describes how her daughter was raped, mutilated, and murder, facts that were ignored by the police.
As the conquistador hears these stories, we hear his inner thoughts. He expresses tremendous contempt for Mexicans, who he sees as inferior to him. Later in the film, he ponders his role in creating the hellish environment that has caused so much trauma.
The film concludes with a section titled “El Dorado,” named after the mythical empire purportedly full of gold. In this scene, we see the conquistador as a dishwasher in what is presumably a restaurant in the United States. The director’s message is clear: surrounded by violence, the only possible escape is to search for El Dorado. Once they find El Dorado, Mexicans realize that stories about this place were greatly exaggerated.
Using a creative docufiction style, Reyes examines such themes as race, colonialism, and violence in a fascinating way.
499 will be screened at IU Cinema on April 19 followed by a post-screening Q&A. This event is presented in partnership with IU Bloomington’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and IU East’s Department of World Languages and Cultures.
Sonia Manriquez is the Associate Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS). She received her MA from CLACS in 2018. She is an Indigenous woman with ties to Native communities in the United States and in Latin America. Her personal and professional interests include Indigenous rights advocacy and Indigenous language preservation in the Americas.