500 Years

Yates’s films, like the world itself, have no template — they’re messy, rich with feeling, liberated from simple theatrical structures, always honest about what is possible. That one of hers ends with hope is a gift.

The protests that lead to the overthrow of a president carry hard-to-avoid echoes of recent demonstrations in the U.S.

Pamela Yates’ 500 Years is a palpably passionate if somewhat less contained effort than the two films preceding it.

More convincing in its outrage and inspiring in its show of what the people’s will can do as long as the masses protest and demand to be heard, than as a rigorous historical analysis.

Heavy with emotion yet light on information, 500 Years has the curious effect of being both passionate and pale. You may find yourself championing its subjects even while feeling confounded by the omission of details by its filmmaker.