AllMovie

The eponymous character at the heart of the Spanish-language epic Zapata needs little introduction, even to non-history buffs. But this motion picture offers an unusual take on the mercurially tempered Mexican general by creating a fictionalized series of events from his personal life. In this revisionist piece of history, Emiliano Zapata -- while laboring as a Horse Master for Ignacio de la Torre y Mier -- falls passionately for Rosa Maria Rendón, the daughter of a wealthy landowner of British extraction. Even as Emiliano and Rosa become more committed and bound, amorously, to one another, they recognize the impossibility of their relationship given differences in race, class, social status, and the roles they will ultimately play as the sweeping currents of history pull them apart. Walter Doehner directs; Demian Bichir stars as Zapata, with Lorena Rojas as Rosa Maria Rendón.