In 1992, ‘Year of Columbus’, the film industry tried its best to link the story of Christopher Columbus to the grandeur of the United States. But not Craig Baldwin. In ¡O No Coronado!, a collection of very diverse images, he analyses sharply the violence, chaos and injustice of the Columbus era. Baldwin sketches the life of one of the last successful conquistadors, Coronado, who arrived in Mexico in 1538 and set off in search of the imaginary Seven Cities of Cibola. Via what is now Arizona and New Mexico, he trekked as far as present-day Kansas in search of these ‘golden cities’.With a great sense of humour Baldwin manoeuvres through pictures of old westerns, industrial and educational films, cartoons etc. Nevertheless, he is able to provide a very dynamic historical portrait of this woeful past. Jim Hoberman, Village Voice: ‘As fans know, [Baldwin] habitually conceptualizes history as a tacky exploitation flick and, at a machine-paced 40 minutes, Coronado still manages an epic sweep.’
