Pro-Conquest film fuels debate in Mexico over colonial legacy

"Hispanic America: A Song of Life and Hope" by Spanish director Jose Luis Lopez-Linares claims to offer "a new vision" of the colonial period. Shot in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, it depicts the Spanish as having had a civilizing impact on the Americas, bequeathing a proud heritage of Catholicism and art, including lofty Baroque-inspired Spanish colonial architecture. It makes no mention of the abuses committed in the name of evangelizing the Indigenous peoples of the New World. The film's...