Customer Reviews

Conquistadors

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Some of the other reviewers have complained that this series doesn't match with the "classic" history authors on the subject. It's my opinion that this view fails to recognize how Michael Wood's documentaries usually operate. His research often has a revisionist ethic, and if you observe the credits and his interviews, many of his sources are often current versus classic experts, and he also goes out of his way, especially in this series, to get folk and indigenous perspectives.

This is in line with his general humanist approach. I for one enjoy it, and while he interprets facts with a an eye for revision or "what ifs" or "just maybe," he never abuses the subject. In fact, he takes us on a journey to question everything we might know or think we know from reading canonical texts.

This particular series is also beautifully shot and taken as a whole is a fresh educational and entertainment experience for those who know little about the Conquistadors and their importance to world history.

Whether it shows a lot of actors in costume or not isn't really the point. He takes you through areas as a tour guide and tells you the history. The last part about De Vacca and his revelations and the extraordinary journey was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed this just as much as I do Ken Burns' documentaries, it is a different style. I don't want to see everyone do things the same way. As far as him showing art, he did show art, he also showed you by trying many things how these people survived, what they ate, how they cooked, how they made plows, how the Aztecs made weapons that were inferior to the steel ones the Spaniards came equipped with. Also, the journey of the Incas leaving their beautiful land to try and put separation between themselves and the conquistadors was heartbreaking. I very much enjoyed it and will look forward to more of Michael Wood's exuberant storytelling.

Let it be said that I love documentaries. Many of my friends roll their eyes and shake their heads . . . but I still love 'em. The topic of Conquistadors summoned up romantic images of my California history classes in 4th and 5th grade as I grew up in LA. I went ahead and made the purchase. At first, I was a bit put off by the style of documentary. I was more used to the traditional style of documentary in which images and photos from history are accompanied by the narrator's voiceover interspliced with that of knowledgable historians.

Mr. Wood however, takes you on a journey and the majority of his images are from modern times shot "in the footsteps" of the Conquistadors he is profiling. At first I was dissapointed, but eventually, this "genre" of documentary grabbed me and I began to really enjoy it. The final installment on Cabesa de Vaca is simply amazing and worth the price in and of itself. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the videos. Not my favorite . . . but definitely worth it.

If, as has been recounted, the historians of ancient Greece recited their works to rapt audiences...much as the ancient wandering poets had performed their epics to the audiences in the palaces of the kings...then in this incredible video and audio presentation of the journeys and adventures of 4 conquistadors and the men with them, Michael Wood and the producers of this PBS series serve up the same wondrous combination of narrative (as poetry), an incredible musical score (with ethereal mesmerizing voices artistically blended with the music), and stunning visual photography...

...on the first cassette, Michael Wood recounts the journeys, hardships, personalities, and conflicts of Cortes and Pizarro...on the 2nd cassette are the stories of Cabeza de Vaca and another conquistador...

...from the first moments of the video on Cortes you know that this is a documentary like none that you have seen before...when Wood jumps from a boat onto the shore of the Yucatan coast, the lighting of the sky and the effect on the surrounding trees and sand is enchanting... it looks like the lighting (supplied by nature, not by the documentary producers) in the painting of El Greco's landscapes...

...I have admired and tried to see as many Michael Wood presentations as possible...his wondrous enthusiasm for history and questing and sharing of his knowledge, his admiration for the persons and happenings of the past, as well as his pique and his dislike... are infectious... and compelling...I have been in awe of his knowledge- filled (but never dry or dull) dramatic prose... filled with the breath of his own enthusiasm, interest, and actual footsteps in the paths of the past...I have followed him on the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis...I have journeyed with him in Search of the Trojan War....I have traveled with him across rivers, through mountain passes, across plains, as he quested in the Footsteps of Alexander...I have been at his side through the Legacy series...and now there is this culminating video series on the Conquistadors...his personality and attractive features make him a magnetic narrator and recreator of the excitement and wonder of what the past has been and done...

...the most incredible scenes in the Cortes presentation are of Michael Wood slowly, breathlessly climbing up the mountain in the rain...actually enduring what Cortes and his men also had to face and endure...recounting... and even reading from a translation of the journal of a soldier with Cortes, Diaz (apparently, from the video, I noticed it is the Penguin Classics edition of Diaz' retelling)...and then they sight the pass at the crest of the mountain...the scenes in Mexico City as Wood retraces the path of Cortes...and matches the past with the present...the retelling and showing by actually climing the steps of the pyramid and going into the enclosure at the top, of the Aztec Emperor Montezuma taking Cortes and showing him the Aztec gods...of Cortes asking Montezuma if he can put a picture of the Virgin and a cross in this place where there are these false gods... of Montezuma's anger and puzzlement at the crassness of this visitor whom he had thought he was sharing a sacred privilege with of entering the presence of his own gods... the retelling of the retreat of Cortes at night from the city and the attack by the Aztecs, after Montezuma has been killed...of Cortes being concerned only about the fate of two men...one of them the shipbuilder...and then Wood retraces Cortes' path back to the mountain side and actually shows the cutting down of a tree...because Cortes had ships built there on the mountain and then taken apart...carried back to Lake Texcoco where the Aztec capital was located across causeways in the lake... and using them to conquer the city of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital...and bringing an end to a civilization... the ending of this section is incredible...Michael Wood goes into the hospital which Cortes had built later, and in front of a painting of Cortes, Wood recounts what it had been the fate -- and determined will -- of this man to do...

....the other parts of this incredible documentary series are as thoughtfully and creatively presented...the part on Pizarro and the Incas is mesmerizing...and then Wood even follows up with the retracing of the uprising of the Incas after the Spaniards had thought they had things "under control"...the courage and determined fire of Manco, the last Inca leader, who led the uprising and then went into the interior to create what would become a lost city until its rediscovery in the 20th century...

...sometimes Michael Wood can be a bit strident and ideologically dogmatic (left of center) as in the Legacy Series...especially in the segment of that series dealing with the West...but he is ALSO always objective in presenting a full and compelling retelling

as well as analysis...in this Conquistador series, he is never strident...rather saddened by man's inhumanity to man... saddened at the the broad swath of blood, pain, death, and lost understanding that the path toward ambition, glory, fame, and riches may leave in its wake...

...but he also shares the wonder and the admiration for the courage, endurance, and vision of the Conquistadors... this is a video series for the present...and for the generations and ages to come...I only fervently hope that they will put it on DVD! ...

Michael Wood has done it again. After his Alexander the Great (also highly recommendable) he came up with this fascinating account of the conquest of the New World. The video as well as the book are concise and highly informative. The video was almost like a movie. It resembled a thriller that you do not want to leave as you fear to miss something.

For me as a European it was extremely interesting and a "must buy". For Americans it should be a MUST. You will not regret to buy this excellent documentary.

Let us hope Michael Wood produces something else soon.

This was a fabulous take on the main stream Conquistadors, better than a lot of points by the Learning Channel version "The Conquistadors" Michael Wood's verbal descriptions were intense and informative. His exploration to the MODERN sites actually made the history more real! I would have liked to have seen a blend of Mr. Wood with the Learning Channel version with the reenactors. This video is one I will watch over and over.

I was looking forward to watching this series after having seen Mr Wood's history of India series on PBS.

It is very informative, well made and would be a 5 star product if it were not for the fact that it's advertised as 1.85:1 (wide screen in my books) but is actually a scaled down to 4:3 wide screen.

My TV is able to zoom in, so I can compensate, but the picture quality is not what I'd been looking forward too. Hence 4 stars.

Other than that a great documentary.

Your own personally guided tour through a sweeping historical narrative. The author takes you over the same paths, roads, jungles and rivers as the Conquistadors traveled. The photography is OUTSTANDING. It adds to the feeling of being there. You can still see remnants of old cities and roads built from stone. You visit the same native peoples as existed in the 1500's. All of this adds to the depth of the story.

I can't say enough good things about this DVD. It is another fine PBS production.

I was DEEPLY disappointed by this effort by one of the best history
presenters out there. His seminal work, "Trojan War" opened whole
doors for me and is a superb production on almost every level even
if it is somewhat dated by today's standards.

But "Conquistadors" was quite another matter and one need only look
at the contents page of the book to see why. Whereas the book was SIX
chapters long, the video is only FOUR parts. Painfully for me, Wood
chose to leave out almost any mention of the Journey of Cabeza de Vaca
from the video although it is the final chapter of his book. The tale
of de Vaca is perhaps the most fantastic of the Conquistador Tales if
only for its' tragedy and futility. And these qualities are matched by
the sacrifice and determination of those same adventurers.

More to the point, it is THE classic tale of the search for the "Seven
Cities of Gold" that is the culmination of the Conquistador Era.
Instead, Wood choses to conclude with a meandering tale of lost men in
the Amazon Basin that while it is heroic it is also distant from any
of the previous tales as can be. The longer Wood worked his way down-
river the more I was reminded of his early effort in the old "Great
Rail Journeys" PBS/BBC series where he beautifully summed up the
ravages of Colonialism whilst retracing the ruined remains of the old
Congo Railway.

That interpretation of the Congo Railway was a brilliant re-tracing,
this video is just plain up the creek without a paddle. A rental, maybe.
No way a purchase. Borrow the book from the library if you like and
then if you like what you read come back here and look for reprints of
the original histories Wood drew from. Those ARE worth your time indeed.

Conquistadors is must see, it does not shy on revealing what actually happened as best as any modern man could.