In 1780, the Inca José Gabriel Tupac Amaru led workers, slaves and Indians into South America's first full-scale revolt against Spanish colonialism. The uprising was suppressed when the Bishop of Cusco (the Incan capital) provoked the defection of the Creole people. This powerful, handsomely mounted film depicts the failed rebellion from the point of view of its participants, who recount the story during the inquisition which follows Tupac's grisly execution in Cusco's central plaza. Tupac Amaru became a symbol of liberation in Latin America, and the film ends with black-and-white newsreel footage from 1975 of the birth of an agrarian revolutionary movement that carries his name. Federico Garcia's film features an impressive performance by Reynaldo Arenas as the martyred hero. Garcia, born in Cusco, has made several documentaries and politically inspired features (including Huando, Land Without Landlord, and Melgar, El Poeta Insurgente) which have taken prizes at festivals throughout the Latin countries and in Moscow. Tupac Amaru was critically acclaimed on its North American premiere at Montreal's World Film Festival '85