I had the extreme fortune of seeing "One Man's Hero" at a test screening in Los Angeles, and frankly, it blew me away.
Once in every long while Hollywood lives up to its responsibility to portray subject matters of substance and import to society and humankind at large. "One Man's Hero" is one such example.
The US-Mexican War is the pivotal chapter in the history of North America. It is the war that sealed the fates of it's two participants. For the United States, the War garnered huge amounts of territory and wealth, bootstrapping the fledgling democracy onto the world stage. For Mexico, the War sent the emerging nation into a tailspin that it is still reckoning with today, one hundred fifty years later.
In the United States the US-Mexican War is virtually forgotten, and for good reason, as it is the clearest example of our historical hypocrisy. The US-Mexican War was waged upon Mexico out of pure greed and moral righteousness. The remarkable part of the story is that at the time of this unjust invasion of our peaceful Catholic neighbor, Irish immigrants fresh off the coffin-ships from the Famine identified with Mexico's plight.
Over a hundred years before the conscientious objectors of Vietnam, the 'San Patricios' were true heroes who fought and died for their religion, their convictions, their brethren, and their adopted homeland Mexico. While Henry David Thoreau invented civil disobedience in Massachusetts, refusing to pay his taxes to support this unjust invasion of Catholic Mexico, and while Abraham Lincoln stood in opposition to President Polk's scheme in Congress, the 'San Patricios' fought to the death in the front lines against the invading Yankees.
Through the eyes of these Irish immigrants, we come to see the underbelly of North American history, and come to understand how we have arrived to such debates as anti-bilingual education in California, our collective guilt manifest in NAFTA, and anti-immigration xenophobia.
Rarely does one film illicit such critically profound self reflection, and "One Man's Hero" makes us consider who we are and how we have arrived at the United States' Empire here at the turn of the millennium. The acting is superb, melding a stellar cast of as-of-yet unknown talent with Tom Berenger's best performance to date. The script is Shakespearean in it's tact and art. The direction demonstrates an unparalleled intimacy with the subject matter which leaves us gasping for air one moment and reaching for kleenex the next.
This is a film in the grand tradition of Hollywood, a huge epic wrought large on the silver screen in the tradition of "Braveheart" "Dr. Zhivago" and "Dances with Wolves."
Domingo Espada, San Francisco, Norte America
Once in every long while Hollywood lives up to its responsibility to portray subject matters of substance and import to society and humankind at large. "One Man's Hero" is one such example.
The US-Mexican War is the pivotal chapter in the history of North America. It is the war that sealed the fates of it's two participants. For the United States, the War garnered huge amounts of territory and wealth, bootstrapping the fledgling democracy onto the world stage. For Mexico, the War sent the emerging nation into a tailspin that it is still reckoning with today, one hundred fifty years later.
In the United States the US-Mexican War is virtually forgotten, and for good reason, as it is the clearest example of our historical hypocrisy. The US-Mexican War was waged upon Mexico out of pure greed and moral righteousness. The remarkable part of the story is that at the time of this unjust invasion of our peaceful Catholic neighbor, Irish immigrants fresh off the coffin-ships from the Famine identified with Mexico's plight.
Over a hundred years before the conscientious objectors of Vietnam, the 'San Patricios' were true heroes who fought and died for their religion, their convictions, their brethren, and their adopted homeland Mexico. While Henry David Thoreau invented civil disobedience in Massachusetts, refusing to pay his taxes to support this unjust invasion of Catholic Mexico, and while Abraham Lincoln stood in opposition to President Polk's scheme in Congress, the 'San Patricios' fought to the death in the front lines against the invading Yankees.
Through the eyes of these Irish immigrants, we come to see the underbelly of North American history, and come to understand how we have arrived to such debates as anti-bilingual education in California, our collective guilt manifest in NAFTA, and anti-immigration xenophobia.
Rarely does one film illicit such critically profound self reflection, and "One Man's Hero" makes us consider who we are and how we have arrived at the United States' Empire here at the turn of the millennium. The acting is superb, melding a stellar cast of as-of-yet unknown talent with Tom Berenger's best performance to date. The script is Shakespearean in it's tact and art. The direction demonstrates an unparalleled intimacy with the subject matter which leaves us gasping for air one moment and reaching for kleenex the next.
This is a film in the grand tradition of Hollywood, a huge epic wrought large on the silver screen in the tradition of "Braveheart" "Dr. Zhivago" and "Dances with Wolves."
Domingo Espada, San Francisco, Norte America