Hernán (2019)

 Hi everybody! 

It has been a while since my last entry in this blog, so here is a little update. My future plan is to give ample exercise to my writing skills in this virtual arena, since my line of work does not require much more than a couple of more or less formal or technical emails per day. 

To start with, I would like to recommend some online available TV series that impressed me positively in the last weeks. The first was Hernán, a joint mexican-spanish production produced in 2019, that follows the early stages of the conquest of the Aztec Empire by Hernán Cortez in the beginning of the 16th century. In this first season, we follow the first taking and fall of Tenochtitlan (future Mexico city) in the period 1519-1520.

 Some of the aspects that I find particularly interesting in this TV series is the use of the original languages by the actors (it is obvious that the production team went great lengths to restore and drill minority languages, namely nahuatl and maya), the historical accuracy, and above all, a (refreshing) use of a multi-perspective point of view, showing both the faults and motives of the different parts and giving it a certain psychological depth. Each episode shows a part of the story seen by a different first person, participant narrator. Liked the fact that historical figures like Marina, Moctezuma, Xicontecatl, Alvarado and Sandoval get full episodes to explore their acts and motivations. I like the fact that the directors tried (at least) to avoid historical favoritism, or to press their own ideological point of view (although I still think that Cortez goes relatively unscathed  out of this series). High praise also for the, so far, deepest and widest portrayal of the native Mexican tribes and the troubled relationship between them at the time. The descriptions I've read so far, previous to this series, were often unilateral from the Castilian point of view and smoothed the intricacy and complexity of the local society, blending all tribes together and lumping them in a greyish mass. This show tries to give a more differentiated perspective. As far as I remember, only Mel Gibsons grizzly and gory "Apocalypto" (2005) painted a complex, although inaccurate, picture of the local society. Kudos for the use of original language, though!

Must warn parents or potential sensitive viewers that there is plenty of violence and gore in this show  (although I do not feel it was gratuitous and unnecessary - it just portrays the harsh reality of the time, with depictions of human sacrifices and medieval war).  

 The TV series is available here for free until November 2022, within Norway, on NRK.