I must be missing something very important, because the last thing I expected Tomás/Topiltzin to do was embrace the statue. My impression was that he was still true to his Aztec faith and I expected him to destroy it.
Perhaps he had progressed beyond his anger and wanted to embrace the connection between Catholicism and his own worship, i.e., the mother/goddess figure.
"You need a good bedside manner with doctors or you will get nowhere." --- William Burroughs
I dont think he accepts catholicism. He embrazes the statue because he realizes that faith is faith, whether its wrapped up as Aztec Religion (the earth godess) or European catholicism (the statue of Mary). They are both one and the same. If you pay attention to the death scenes of the Father he also talks about ONE faith.
saludos
Topiltzin's life is sparred by Hernando Cortes because Tecuichpo, the native mistress of Cortes, reveals that Topilzin is her brother and the son of emporer monteczuma. Cortes orders that Topilzin be converted to Christianity, only after he is punished for his sins in front of the virgin Mary Statue. He is whipped until his back is lacerated and bloody then the souls of his feet are burned.
It is said that the Spaniards put a torch to the feet of the last Aztec emperor Cauhtemoc so that he would reveal where Monteczuma's treasures were hidden, but he never talked. Topiltzin's feet are burned as he sees the Virgin's face, the only one who doesn't pass judgement.
After he has repented for his sins Topiltzin is taken to the monastery to have his conversion completed by Friar Diego. Topiltzin struggles to maintain a spiritual identity as he tries to preserve his culture, while simaltaneously being forced to learn Christian mythology in order to ensure his survival. He experiences a great deal of confusion and crisis in faith especially because many of the elements of his religion and Christianity were similar. Topiltzin shouts, "you can conquer my body, but my spirit. . . never."
By the end of the movie the Virgin Mary and the Mother Goddess from the Aztec Temple become inter twined in Topiltzin's mind and he identifies them as one in the same.
I believe the ending was very Ironic when Friar Diego delivers his line to the effect that we can all live as one if we can learn to tolerate and understand each other. To me this goes contrary to the theme of the movie because The Aztecs where conquered by the Spaniards, usually when someone conquers your land they are not generally interested in tolerating and understanding your lifestyle and rituals.
Should The Aztec's just accept the fact that the Spaniards and themselves can co-exist peacefully if they learn to tolerate and understand each other, even though the Spaniards conquered them? To me that was just the christian conquerer saying, don't you understand that we can live in peace if you just accept Christianity?
Indeed, the statue-hugging at the end symbolizes how the Aztec people decided to fuse with instead of fully accept the Catholic religion imposed by the invaders. One point the director, Salvador Carrasco, and other scholars and historians have made, is that notice how Mexico's Virgen of Guadalupe is an indigenous-faced woman. The Aztecs continued their resistance to the foreign occupation of their land, by "conquering" the invaders' faith.
shareConquering the faith? Seriously? It sounds good but re-imaging the idols of a religion to match the constituents of the church is not conquering the faith -- or preserving their own. It's just makes people feel OK because they now worship, fervently I might add, alongside their conquerors.
Though I do agree the film-maker depicted a fusion of the Virgin Mary and one aspect of the Aztec goddess (cause isn't the other side death & unknown etc?).