Cristiada (film)
| For Greater Glory | |
|---|---|
Poster (English)
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| Directed by | Dean Wright |
| Produced by | Pablo Jose Barroso |
| Written by | Michael James Love |
| Starring |
Andy Garcia Eva Longoria Eduardo Verastegui Rubén Blades Peter O'Toole |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Eduardo Martinez Solares |
| Edited by |
Richard Francis-Bruce Mike Jackson |
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Production
company |
NewLand Films
|
| Distributed by | ARC Entertainment 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
|
145 minutes |
| Country | Mexico |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $9,622,846 |
For Greater Glory (also known as Cristiada) is a 2012 epic historical war drama film directed by Dean Wright and written by Michael Love, based on the events of the Cristero War. It stars Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, Oscar Isaac, Rubén Blades, Peter O'Toole, and Bruce Greenwood. The film is the directorial debut for Wright, veteran visual effects supervisor on films including The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003), and was released on June 1, 2012.
Despite lavish production values, the film received overwhelmingly negative reviews and was a box office disappointment.
The film opens with screen titles describing the anti-Catholic provisions of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico. Civil war erupts when newly elected Mexican president, Plutarco Elías Calles (Rubén Blades), begins a violent crackdown against the country's Catholic faithful. The film depicts the carnage by showing churches being set on fire, Catholic priests murdered and countless faithful peasants killed, then having their bodies publicly hang on telegraph poles as a warning to others.
The story shifts to Father Christopher (Peter O’Toole), a Catholic priest, who is ruthlessly murdered by the Federales. A thirteen-year-old boy named José Luis Sanchez (Mauricio Kuri) witnesses the killing. Driven by anger and rage, he joins the rebels, or Cristeros ("soldiers for Christ"), fighting against Calles. Their battle cry is "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" ("Long live Christ the King"). The rebel leader, retired general Enrique Gorostieta (Andy Garcia), an atheist, takes an interest in young José and the boy soon becomes his protégé. Later while fighting against the Federales, José is captured in a firefight and is tortured to force him to renounce his belief in God. When he resolutely defends his faith, he is executed. The next year Gorostieta is killed in a battle at Jalisco after becoming a Catholic. In 1929, however, agreements were made to restore religious freedoms. Pope Benedict XVI beatified Jose in 2005 along with twelve other martyrs of the religious persecution.
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Wikipedia