Cinema
Túpac Amaru
Federico García Hurtado · 1984
Synopsis
In the highland provinces of Cusco, at the end of the eighteenth century, excessive tributes, the mita and the abuses of the Spaniards crush the Indians. In November 1780, the cacique José Gabriel Condorcanqui, who has taken the name Túpac Amaru, has the corregidor Antonio de Arriaga arrested and rouses the communities together with his wife Micaela Bastidas and his captains. The film tells the story of the revolt from the point of view of those who took part in it, and of the poorest who rallied to it.
Context
Pilar Roca, a researcher passionate about the life of Túpac Amaru, produced the film with the company Kuntur, in co-production with the Cuban Film Institute; popular organisations of Cuzco joined in, and the executive producer Ernesto Leistenschneider obtained its financing. It was shot in Lima and in the Cuzco region. Reynaldo Arenas plays the title role, Zully Azurín that of Micaela Bastidas. The film was released in Lima on 27 September 1984; presented in 1985 at the Montreal World Film Festival for its North American premiere, it was praised there by the critics.
Who it is for
In Spanish, with passages in Quechua. A historical reconstruction; it is better to know the broad outline of the rebellion of 1780.
Prizes and reception
Prize of the Latin American filmmakers in Havana, honourable mention in London in 1986; selected in Tokyo the same year among the ten films most representative of the continent.