Filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes has made a documentary/fiction hybrid film that uses magical realism to draw a parallel between the apocalyptic sacking of Tenochtitlan and the harsh reality of many modern-day Mexicans.

Exactly 499 years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, an unnamed conquistador washes up on the east coast of Mexico as if ejected from a time machine. In his period costume, he treks over the mountains, from Veracruz to Mexico City, the same route that Cortés took in 1521 to conquer the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Along his way, people tell their stories candidly—the son of an activist journalist murdered by drug criminals, a former soldier who specialized in torture, a mother who lost her 12-year-old daughter in an horrific act of revenge and although no violence is shown, we can feel its presence.

We witness a Mexico ravaged by violence and cruelty through the eyes of the weary and bewildered time traveler (Spanish actor Eduardo San Juan Breña is perfectly cast in the role), as the memories and interior monologue of this conquistador provide an extra historical dimension and help us grasp how the colonial past has affected the present. And despite the beautifully composed images of this original, magical-realistic road movie, a harsh reality predominates, while the narrator brings to life text from old diaries,  detailing accounts of how the Spanish dehumanized the societies with whom they met, and with what impunity they maneuvered and battled. There are hints of remorse over the violence they unleashed, but these are few and far between.

The carefully crafted cinematography and the dream-like style of the film serve as a backdrop for the restrained tenacity and stubborn hope of all the migrants, activists, and grieving mothers. In bringing these issues to the forefront, 499 can provide a way for a country and its citizens to finally start healing from centuries old wounds, and even though 499 provides no answers, its poetic provocations ask us to confront not only historical colonialism, but also its enduring violence that real-life contemporary colonized people continue to face.

Screened in Spanish with English subtitles.

Rodrigo Reyes   |  Mexico/U.S.A.  |  2020  |  88 minutes