Title: For Greater Glory
Director: Dean Wright
Starring: Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, Eduardo Verastegui, Rubén Blades, Peter O’Toole.
The director (and visual effects supervisor) who is best known for fantasy movies such as ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,’ tackles an important and neglected moment in history: the Cristero War.
“La Cristiada” was an attempted counter-revolution against anti-clericalism of the ruling Mexican government. During the 1920s, the country was thrust into civil war when President Plutarco Calles outlawed Catholicism, banned religious activity, confiscated all church property and exiled clergy. Priests and nuns that protested were arrested or publicly executed and hung on display from roadside posts. Rebel factions formed by schoolboys to farmers to artisans rose up and thus started the Cristero War.
Although this part of history, that usually isn’t part of school’s programs, could have been interesting, the plot of ‘For Greater Glory’ spares no cliches. We have a tight-knit family divided by politics, a sensitive priest urging children to fight for their beliefs, the atheist legendary General Gorostieta who is hired to lead the directionless rebels against Calles and will somehow be touched by the heavenly light and the indoctrinated kid who embodies the Lamb of God.
The speed of narration is highly antiquate, and has the flavour of a rambling political biopic that aspires to the long gone old-Hollywood romanticism.
The actors are pretty good (Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, Eduardo Verastegui, Rubén Blades, Peter O’Toole) although the heavy-handed message of proselytism gives an irksome depiction of Mexico’s Cristero War.
If understandably the US got the immediate release, it took almost two years for the movie to get distribution in European countries such as Italy, albeit the Bel paese’s Catholic Weltanschauung is in line with that of the movie.
Technical: B-
Acting: B-
Story: C
Overall: C+
Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
