Conquistadors

*** - A 4-hour long four-part BBC/PBS documentary, “Conquistadors” is decent enough as far as this sort of thing goes, but a few things hold it back from being any more than average. Presented by famed British historian Michael Wood – who is the spitting image of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, by the way – in his trademark excitable manner, it has lots of location shooting and contains some decent insights on the Spanish conquest of Central and South America. However, the video (yes, video… not film) and audio were low quality which was somewhat distracting, and Wood concentrated on the more sensationalistic aspect of the characters and events in the story - to the point of occasionally giving out bald-faced misinformation. It is okay as a sort of beginners guide, but anyone looking for more depth and substance should go elsewhere. The creators of this seemed to heed these words said by someone famous once, “When the choice is between truth and legend, always print the legend.”