Cristiada (Trailer for Upcoming Movie W. Andy Garcia, Peter O'Toole on 1920s Persecution in Mexico)

YouTube ^ | 03/30/2011 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

"A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country. The film follows the stories of ordinary people from across the country who choose to stand up for their freedom. Caught up in a full-fledged civil war, they all must decide how far they are willing to go and what they're willing to risk."

[Pyro7480]

Movie website: Cristiada

Starring:
Andy Garcia
Eva Longoria
Peter O'Toole
Eduardo Verastegui of Bella fame
Nestor Carbonell from Lost
Ruben Blades

Directed by Dean Wright, visual effects supervisor for the first two Chronicles of Narnia movies, and visual effects producer for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Return of the King

Original Music by James Horner of Titanic, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Mask of Zorro, and Apollo 13 fame

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[Frantzie]

I thought Peter O’Toole died?? I must be thinking of Bob Crane.

[Army Air Corps]

Sounds like an interesting film.

[the invisib1e hand]

It’s probably a fine movie, but I’ve walked out of two movies recently — both shown at church — because of my distaste for graphic violence.

[Zhang Fei]

The Mexican caudillo of the time initiated priest hunts - kill-on-sight orders against Catholic priests.

[Sherman Logan]

Some of the Cristeros, including priests, also engaged in atrocities.

[Huck]

Peter O’Toole is still alive? Who knew?

[Straight Vermonter]

Father Miguel Pro is one of my personal heroes. We could use men like him in the priesthood today.

An assassination attempt by bombing against Álvaro Obregón (which only wounded the ex-president) in November 1927 provided the state with a pretext to capture Fr. Miguel Pro and his brothers Humberto and Roberto. A young engineer who was involved and confessed his part in the assassination testified the Pro brothers were not involved. [7] Miguel and his brothers were taken to the Detective Inspector's Office in Mexico City. On November 13, 1927, President Calles gave orders to have Pro executed under the pretext of the assassination, but in reality for defying the virtual outlawing of Catholicism. [5] Calles had the execution meticulously photographed, and the newspapers throughout the country carried them on the front page the following day. Presumably, Calles thought that the sight of the pictures would frighten the Cristero rebels who were fighting against his troops, particularly in the state of Jalisco. However, they had the opposite effect. Fr. Pro and his brothers were visited by Generals Roberto Cruz and Palomera Lopez around 11 p.m. on November 22, 1927. The next day, as Fr. Pro walked from his cell to the courtyard and the firing squad, he blessed the soldiers, knelt and briefly prayed quietly. Declining a blindfold, he faced his executioners with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other and held his arms out in imitation of the crucified Christ and shouted out, "May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!" [5] Before the firing squad were ordered to shoot, Pro raised his arms in imitation of Christ and shouted the defiant cry of the Cristeros, "Viva Cristo Rey!" -"Long live Christ the King!" [5]. When the initial shots of the firing squad failed to kill him, a soldier shot him point blank. People lined the streets for miles when his body was transported from the prison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Pro

[Pyro7480]

So, in your opinion, there’s a moral equivalence between the two sides?

[Straight Vermonter]

I just looked him up on IMDB. He will be 79 and has 3 movies coming out this year!

[Carpe Cerevisi]

Some of the Cristeros, including priests, also engaged in atrocities.

I'd like to read the source for this claim.

[Huck]

Maybe he had all his money in a Madoff account and had to come out of retirement.

[antidisestablishment]

Wow!

I am not Catholic, but I would have stood by them against such tyranny.

First they came for the Jews....

[Sherman Logan]

Well, it’s certainly not a case of brutal government persecuting unresisting Christians as in ancient Rome.

While the government was certainly brutal enough, the Catholics resisted quite effectively, to the point that estimates have considerably more casualties on the federal side than on that of the rebels.

You can call that religious persecution if you like, but it looks a lot more like a civil war to me.

To answer your question directly, there are degrees of moral equivalence. Seldom in human affairs is one side utterly evil and the other totally good. So most of the time either accepting full moral equivalence or rejecting it completely is inappropriate.

The question is (usually) not one of whether moral equivalence exists, it is one of how much in a particular case.

[RitaOK]

Some of the Cristeros, including priests, also engaged in atrocities.” ==========

Oh, RI-i-g-h-t. And your footnotes are where?

[Sherman Logan]

http://www.wvinter.net/~haught/Cristero.htm

Father Jose Vega was particularly notorious. He reportedly had a train full of civilians doused with gasoline and ignited in revenge for the death of his brother in combat. Not exactly Christ-like.

Many hundreds of rural schoolteachers were also assassinated before, during and after the war by those who thought the Church should instruct children.

[kearnyirish2]

“Well, it’s certainly not a case of brutal government persecuting unresisting Christians as in ancient Rome.”

It started that way, as it did in Spain a few years later. In Spain the army revolted against the elected government when it took no action to protect the Church or even basic property rights from the Bolshevik mobs; the Communist government literally outlawed Mass (and killed twelve or thirteen bishops, on top of thousands of priests and dozens of nuns). As in Mexico, many of those religious also proclaimed “Viva Cristo Rey!” as they were martyred; it became the battle cry of the Carlists on the Nationalist side.

The current (Leftist) government of Spain has erased that history; thankfully the Vatican has been canonizing the martyrs of the war in Spain (and some from Mexico as well) so that nobody can deny the events of the first half of the 20th century. The Left is still as focused as it was then, and has lulled people into complacency as they divert attention to nonsense while they keep Marx’s dream alive.

[boatbums]

Thanks for the link. Interesting history lesson. Do you have an idea which “side” the film portrays positively?

[boatbums]

Peter O’Toole is still alive? Who knew?

Yep, he's a amazing actor. My bet is on him playing this character: Exiled Mexican conservatives appealed to Catholic France, Catholic Spain and the pope, plus other Europeans. French, Spanish and some English forces invaded Mexico, driving Juarez to the north. A Habsburg noble, Maximilian, was installed as emperor -- but he was slow to revoke the anticlerical laws. The clergy and the pope's emissary felt betrayed. Europeans withdrew their military backing. Juarez regrouped, defeated Maximilian's militia, and executed the emperor in 1867.