Cabeza de Vaca

1991
R
1h 51m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Adventure Biography Drama History Western

A handful of survivors from a disastrous 1528 Spanish expedition to Florida journey across the coast until they reach Mexico.A handful of survivors from a disastrous 1528 Spanish expedition to Florida journey across the coast until they reach Mexico.A handful of survivors from a disastrous 1528 Spanish expedition to Florida journey across the coast until they reach Mexico.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

1.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 5 nominations total

Photos5

Storyline

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Did you know

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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.

Connections
Featured in Conquistadors (2000)

User reviews18

Review

Featured review

9/10

Spectacular visuals lend the film the power of myth

One chapter of the conquista - the subjugation of the Native American peoples by Europeans. We follow Alvaro Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's adventures and misadventures in the New World from a crash landing of his ship through his saving and capture by the Indians, his forced immersion into the Indian culture, his almost mystical pilgrimage from Florida through the American Southwest to California (or was it Mexico?), up to the bitter end at the hands of his European compatriots. Spectacular visuals lend the film the power of myth, but this is still more realistic depiction of the tragic clash of the cultures in the 16th century America than all the Hollywood productions, including Roland Joffe's "The Mission (1986)" (which, by the way, I do like). The only feature film with this topic that I consider equal, or perhaps even superior, is "Jerico (1988)" made by a Venezuelan ethnography professor Luis Alberto Lamata.