Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 12:10am

Ed Morrissey Reviews For Greater Glory

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air saw a rough cut of For Greater Glory back in March, so I was curious to read his review, and here it is:

 

 

For Greater Glory tells the story of the Mexican government’s attempt to stamp out the Catholic Church under President Calles (played by Ruben Blades), and the uprising that followed, a civil war that killed 90,000 people. Calles attempted to enforce the anti-clerical laws put into Mexico’s 1917 socialist Constitution by demanding the expulsion of foreign priests, banning public demonstrations of faith (including the wearing of clerical garb), and making criticism of the government by priests punishable by five years in prison. A boycott organized by the Catholic Church prompted Calles to get even tougher, and open war broke out. Enrique Gorostieta (Andy Garcia), a general who had fought for the winning side in the revolution, chose to lead the Cristero rebellion, and the film focuses mainly on Gorostieta, two of his lieutenants, and a young boy named Jose Sanchez del Rio, who was later beatified by the Catholic Church.

Back in March, I was fortunate enough to see a rough cut of the film, and wrote a semi-official review at the time (from which I borrowed the synopsis above) with the caveat that I would wait to see the theatrical release.  Last night, my wife and I saw it in its limited Twin Cities release, and the final cut has significantly improved the narrative flow of the film. One of the few areas of concern I had from the rough cut was the difficulty in following the constant shifting between subplots in the first half of the film, and some ambiguity about the intent in some scenes.  Those problems were resolved nicely, with additional footage in some areas and smoother transitions throughout.

Go here to Hot Air to read the rest.  Incidentally,  José Eduardo Verástegui Córdoba, who portrays Blessed Anacleto Gonzalez Flores in the film, draws some interesting parallels between what happened in Mexico and our current fight for religious freedom in this country in the video below.

 

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anzlyne
anzlyne
Sunday, June 10, AD 2012 10:48pm

Thank God for the brave intelligent people who invested themselves and their money into making this film, said by some film critic to be “too Catholic”. It has not been shown in our home area, but we did get to go see it Thursday. I hope it will get wider distribution or somehow lots of people will see it. I encourage my non catholic friends to see it– for freedom of religion– any Christian religion–not just Catholic.
This movie is hard to talk about. overwhelming.
I ask the young martyr Jose Sanches del Rio to pray for us. Like the actor in the second clip, I hope I have to courage to truly live faith.
I would like to learn a lot more about the U.S.response, Ambassador Morrow.

Chris Pennington
Chris Pennington
Monday, June 11, AD 2012 7:04am

Please go see this movie. Show your support with your dollars. ONLY by going to see it and making a statement with your money will other movies like this one will be made.

Jeanne Rohl
Jeanne Rohl
Monday, June 11, AD 2012 11:11am

Does anyone know where this movie is being shown? I live in Western Wi and have not been able to find anyplace that is showing it. I noticed the reviewer said in the “limited showing in the Twin Cities area”. Is that Msp/St. Paul Mn? Thanks

Valentin
Valentin
Monday, June 11, AD 2012 6:57pm

Jeane if you are in western Wisconsin and if they show it in the twin cities than shouldn’t have too much trouble depending on how close you are. When I lived in Minneapolis people would smuggle bottlerockets over the border so crossing the border shouldn’t be a problem.

Robert Cline
Robert Cline
Friday, June 15, AD 2012 11:15pm

Interesting that this comes to light. My father, Wm A Cline, of Wharton Texas was born in 1910, and recenlty died in 2012. He told me he was friends with Shelby Longoria. He said, back in his college days, he, Shelby and other friends were having an evening at the Cadillac Bar in Nuevo Laredo. Shelby’s dad comes in and says “there is going to be a raid on the town tonight and I need your help. Shelby and friends helped his dad empty the vaults of the local bank and load the money into pickup trucks and bring it to the US. Dad said when the revolutionaires appared and robbed the bank, the bank was empty of cash. “That,” he said, “was the last raid of that revolution.”

Robert Cline

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