Cristeros

This historical chapter plays close to home as my great-grandfather was morally involved and supported the resistance. He was a founder and active participant of the Knights of Columbus in Mexico City. This society played an active financial role in the rebellion. Our family business was also affected by this persecution in Mexico, as he could not sell his most important products, which at the time were altar candles for the churches. In the early years of this escalating situation, my great grandfather, a deeply religious man and friend of the church, hid at his candle factory, church artwork and religious valuables to keep them from being plundered and destroyed by government officials.

On more than one occasion, based on anonymous tips, government troops personally led by General Plutarco Elías Calles, raided both my great-grandfathers business and his home, looking for firearms and the illegal church valuables that he was hiding. Unable to find anything, the General made my great-grandfather kneel to the ground and shoved his pistol into the back of my great-grandfathers head. Why he never pulled the trigger or why they were never able to find anything either at the candle factory or at his home, was all God's work. At my great-grandfather's home, there were firearms in plain sight standing behind the open doors to the inner rooms… supplied to him by the US Embassy in Mexico City.

This world is really-really small… as fate would have it be, my brother-in-law married the great-granddaughter of General Plutarco Elías Calles… Although my father knows about this, I never mentioned anything to my grandfather about the subject… Thank God nothing more serious ever happened… there are absolutely no ill-feelings between us, and it sure makes a heck-of-a-good family story for generations to come!

I hope you have an opportunity to see the movie, it is an important chapter of Mexican history which has been institutionally hidden for almost 100 years now.

"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.

Revolutions are never easy. And sometimes they demand sacrifice. Sacrifice of many things to achieve something for a later generation. It's a tough movie to watch for many reasons, but it's also not taking prisoners (literally at times), which you might like about it or dismiss. But that's how things can go down, when there is uproar.

We might live in societies today that don't have to fight for certain things, but it's not too much of a stretch to see why and how some had to fight for freedom of speech or religion or other things. The movie depicts a real life event/incidents, which might appall some viewers from the get go, but if you like Drama and History in general, this might be for you. I haven't read too much about how things went down exactly, but I reckon this movie made me aware of a chapter I hadn't had heard about before ...

"We are now an army, we are an army fighting for Gad and for the church and for absolute freedom." A true story about the Cristeros War (1926-1929) which was a war by the people of Mexico against the atheistic Mexican government led by president Plutarco Elias Calles. Enrique Gorostieta Velarde (Garcia) leads a revolt of Mexican Christians against the government in hopes he can restore Mexico to the faith filled nation it once was. I will start by saying that this is a very good movie and entertaining to watch. I know nothing about the history or how accurate this is but I enjoyed it. The only problem that I had with the movie is that I really felt no connection to any of the characters and when one would get killed or have a serious problem I wasn't invested enough for it to have the impact that it was trying for. That said it doesn't really take away from the enjoyment of the movie but I didn't really feel the emotion that I think the filmmakers were trying for. Garcia is a great choice for this but he seems to play the character he played in "Godfather 3" or the Ocean's movies but a Mexican soldier version and he came off a little too cocky, but like I said I don't know the history and the real guy may have been that way too. It may seem like I'm rambling but the movie was over 2 hours long and it felt it and some parts I found it hard to stay focused on but overall this is a good watch and in my opinion one of the best releases this week. Overall, a good western/war movie that is pretty heavy on the religious issues. I give it a B+.

I just saw For Greater Glory today, and I took away from it an enormous respect for the Catholic faith of the Mexican people. It was a riveting story that I knew nothing about. The young actor who played Jose stole the show, with Father Vega taking a very close second. Definitely worth the time and money to see this movie. It also helped me understand why people defend the right of religious freedom so ferociously in our country when they feel it is being infringed upon by our government. I loved the musical score, and the cinematography - the costumes, the sets, all were excellent. I agree with some other reviews that there were a few things that could have been trimmed in the edit room - I feel we could have lost all the scenes with the US Ambassador without missing much. I hope you go see this movie.