Talk:Captain from Castile

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BetacommandBot 09:13, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

discussion of themes/anachronisms

I'm watching this movie right now and I think it's incredible. I note the introduction thanks the Mexican government for some sort of assistance with the project.

• In the first scene where Doña Marina talks to an ambassador, I caught the word "tlatoani", which refers to Moctezuma - "tlatoani" means "speaker" and it was his title. So I think this movie might have authentic Nahuatl language in it (the Mexica, or "Aztec", language), but I'm not sure as I don't actually speak it.
• I note the expedition's flag is the Cross of Burgundy, but I think this is incorrect - I think Cortez' flag was some yellow banner?
• The Santa Hermandad in Spain - wasn't that just a rural police force? This would be another inaccuracy - de Silva's character's position would have been more accurate if he were a tribunal judge of the Inquisition itself, rather than "chief of the Santa Hermandad in Jaén".
• I think doña Marina and Cortez are very accurately portrayed according to what we know about them. (Cortez' Cartas de relación, Bernal Díaz del Castillo's memoir, Hugh Thomas' book "Conquest", etc.)
• I'm impressed the movie tried to talk about the difficulties of Cortez' legal situation and the influence of Cuba's governor Velásquez, gets it pretty close.
• The map at the beginning of the movie showing the first sailing from Cuba to Mexico suggests that "Villa Rica" (Veracruz) already existed; in fact it was founded by Cortez at his first landing.

All in all I think this is an impressive movie that deserves a better Wikipedia article. Someone with more knowledge on this subject, please weigh in and please update the article appropriately... glasperlenspiel (talk) 10:12, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Hopefully the updated article meets your concerns. The portions struck through above are addressed in the course of the article incl. the synopsis. Shellabarger describes Cortés' flag ("The General designed it himself.") as black velvet edged with gold, emblazoned with the royal arms of Spain and a "crimson cross girt with white and blue flames", underneath which was a Latin motto. As for the map, other than mentioning it (which is done), I'm not sure there's much point in providing other "facts" that clutter the article. Too many film articles dwell on "inaccuracies", either to the point of not being pertinent, or where films are faithful to history and/or book, to the point of giving weight to the immaterial. Here, Villa Rica was not only the origin of Veracruz, a second Villa Rica was founded on the coast north of Cempoala, neither of which discredits its authenticity.--Reedmalloy (talk) 02:44, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Movie was Made From a Book

Captain From Castile by Samuel Shellabarger, 1945 Historical Novel Friendly Person (talk) 14:45, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Not a bad novel, either. The article should mention the fact. Tom129.93.22.120 (talk) 23:45, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Addressed. --Reedmalloy (talk) 02:49, 2 May 2009 (UTC)