NY TIMES "AGREES" WITH PERUANISTA

Yeah right, my friends would tell me: you have grandeur dreams.

• Graphic: Angus McBride for PBS

But here are some extracts from the post I wrote about the boring-almost lying-stereotyping "The Great Inca Rebellion" documentary to be premiered tonight at PBS stations, and what the NY Times publishes today.

I wrote by June 19:

It is said that history is written by the victors. This movie reminded me a bit of Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, only because it shows Indigenous peoples as violent, barefoot savage-looking people who hated each other, and killed their own people with merciless violence. You won't see in this movie a Spanish soldier portrayed with the same violence as the Native ones.

Today (June 26) Susan Stewart wrote for the NY Times:

History is written by the winners — at least until modern researchers come along to revise things... You could tell this story in five minutes, but then there would be no justification for the vivid, bloody battle re-enactments in “Rebellion.” The Spanish conquerors traditionally took out the chiefs of opposing armies first, to demoralize the enemy troops; here we see them taking out the chief of the Incas, and then the heads of many, many Incas. You may find yourself searching the screen for Mel Gibson.

Another one but not as close, I wrote this:

In this film you can see several images of scientific analysis of cranes and bones, and while it's interesting to see this kind of work but honestly I think this was just a good advertising for the producers.

And Stewart wrote:

The historians, anthropologists and forensic scientists studying the remains seem uniformly awed by the evident degree of violence. Some of them seem perhaps a little too enthusiastic about it.

Well, the only things that Stewart didn't "agree" with me, is on the word choices for "Indians" to describe us the Indigenous Native peoples, and "conquistadors" referring to the invaders delinquents from Spain. Truth to be told.

Now, this documentary is to be shown tonight in all PBS stations in the United States. Soon you might be able to see it on Youtube or somewhere in the web. Or you can just buy the DVD, if you want to waste your money.