The Holy Office
– The long arm of the Inquisition, or the "Holy Office," reached at least as far as 16th-century Mexic..
The long arm of the Inquisition, or the "Holy Office," reached at least as far as 16th-century Mexico (known as New Spain at the time). Many Spanish Catholics of Moorish or Jewish origin found it expedient to flee to the New World to escape the suffocating attentions of the Inquisition. In Spain, simply being descended from these suspect peoples is sufficient to guarantee a gruesome death by immolation. In the New World, it took slightly more. This 1974 Mexican film deals with the suffering of one family of conversos who are secretly practicing Judaism and are betrayed to the Inquisition by a family member. Interestingly, a small family clan of such secret Jews was discovered in New Mexico as recently as the late 1980s. They managed to keep their faith a secret for nearly five hundred years.
21 Feb 1975
Spanish, Hebrew, Latin
Gaspar de Carvajal, a Dominican, has not seen his family since the age of 10 when he was sent away to pursue the religious life. He attends the funeral of his father, where he notices that the body was washed, then buried in a shroud and without a coffin. Gaspar tells his confessor that he suspects his family, Jews converted to Catholicism, are still following the old ways. Father Lorenzo says this matter must be taken before the Inquisition. Alonso de Peralta, chief Inquisitor of New Spain, orders the Carvajal family arrested on the testimony of their son. Hernando, a Franciscan friar, is sent as a spy to the cell of Luis, Gaspar's brother. Luis's faith converts Hernando to Judaism. Under torture, Luis's mother Francisca confesses. Each family member renounces the Jewish heresy and is allowed to leave prison. But they are warned. If they revert to Judaism a second time, they will be burnt at the stake...
2 wins & 1 nomination.
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