Cabeza de Vaca (1991)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Nicolás Echevarría

Writers:

Nicolás Echevarría (writer)
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (novel)

Release Date:

17 April 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | History

Plot:

An international award winning saga of old Mexico. In 1528, a Spanish expedition founders off the coast of Florida with 600 lives lost...

Plot Keywords:

Cabeza De Vaca | Spanish | Conquistador | Florida | Mexico

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Juan Diego	...	Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Daniel Giménez Cacho	...	Dorantes
Roberto Sosa	...	Cascabel / Araino
Carlos Castañón	...	Castillo
Gerardo Villarreal	...	Estebanico
Roberto Cobo	...	Lozoya (as Roberto 'Calambres' Cobo)
José Flores	...	Malacosa
Eli 'Chupadera' Machuca	...	Sorcerer
Farnesio de Bernal	...	Fray Suárez
Josefina Echánove	...	Anciana Avavar
Max Kerlow	...	Man in Armor
Óscar Yoldi	...	Esquivel
Ramón Barragán	...	Pánfilo de Narváez
Julio Solórzano Foppa	...	Alcaraz
Javier Escobar Villarreal	...	Young Iguase Indian

Also Known As:

Die Abenteuer des Cabeza de Vaca (Germany) [de]

Runtime:

Mexico:112 min | USA:111 min

Country:

Mexico | Spain | USA | UK

Language:

Spanish | Latin

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Coahuíla, Mexico

Company:

American Playhouse

Trivia:

The huge figure of a naked man wielding a club which is created by the Indian sorcerer is an accurate representation of the ancient Celtic chalk carving known as the Cerne Abbas Giant, which is 60 metres in height and is located on a hillside overlooking the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Conquistadors" (2000)

the power that recedes

There are many historical inaccuracies in this film if one considers it based on de Vaca's letter to the King of Spain detailing his ordeals and adventures. Having read Haniel Long's amazing little book on the subject in which he imagines another letter from de Vaca to the king after de Vaca has been back in Spain for some time in which he tries to convey the sense of what is "civilized" and what is "savage," I not only appreciate what the makers of this film were trying to say, but consider it a masterpiece.

Another source is the famous Lord Buckley beat monologue of the 1950's called "The Gasser" about Cabeza de Vaca. That great old hipster also homes in on the essential truth about de Vaca's letter to the King: that there is a power, for healing and compassion, which is suppressed in civilized society and which, if not used, "recedes from us." This is the message of the film, and if some characters and situations and even whole tribes were invented, it is dramatic license in the service of a great theme.