A mix of 2001, Solaris, Apocalypto, and 400 years of Spanish history

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2006)

I was urged to see this by a negative, yet honest, review in the San Francisco Chronicle. Plus five delightful years living with my young family in early post-Franco Spain. Plus being a sci-fi nut. The Inquisition led by Torquemada (any resemblance to the man called Moqtada in present-day Iraq who is pictured on the cover of the current issue of a popular US weekly is more than coincidental) absolutely destroyed the fabric of Spanish culture for over 500 years: from the Christian defeat of the Moors at Cordoba (do read Michener's Iberia) to the adoption of a modern constitution in 1978. The inquisitors required all Muslims and people of the Jewish faith to convert to Christianity. Those who refused were executed; those who converted were later exiled (e.g. the Sephardic Jews and the Spanish Diaspora.)
The only part of Spain not previously conquered by the Moors is the Basque country in the north, which is a whole other fascinating part of Spanish history. Bizet's opera Carmen deals briefly with Basque norms.
The production staff of this film is to be congratulated on a totally accurate historical representation (and artistic depiction of Mudejar architecture in Granada.)