"For Greater Glory" is an amazing film. It's an inspiring retelling of the the Cristeros War against the Mexican government for its having outlawed the Catholic Church and its executions and massacres of those who dared to live out their religious freedom.
The cast is top-notch and the direction pretty competent, keeping the story weaved among intimate scenes and battle scenes. Filled with poignant moments of the lives of the protagonists and of those close to them and with the heroic - as well as less than heroic - skirmish scenes.
It's a movie about taking sides courageously, how conflicting this can be in a man's conscience, especially when it involves the spilling of blood. If anything, the personal struggle of many characters getting into this war and carrying it out made the film shine. From the young boy who faced martyrdom for the Catholic faith - Jose Sanchez del Rio, beatified in 2005 - to his uncle, a cowardly mayor too enamored of power to save him.
I cannot help thinking how timely this film is when the Church and Catholics - for now - are again being curtailed in their freedoms by a government with its own agenda, this time the American government trying to limit the Church's ministry and to force Catholics to violate their consciences. Like Calles, Obama has presented the same arguments to justify his unjustifiable actions against the Church, Catholics and their institutions. It's government might over faith, the collective over the individual, an usurpation of the state to serve not the people, but an ideology.
PS: disregard most professional critics' reviews for they seem to have a chip on their shoulder so big that it blinds them to the artistic and cinematographic qualities of this film.
