Un uomo un eroe

Anyone who doubts the power of religion to sway a man's loyalties has never studied history. Likewise, anyone who doubts the power of a man's need to feel respect and a sense of "belonging" has simply never felt the lack. The Irish of the time came to our shores fleeing famine and disease, poor in the wallet but rich in pride and heritage. They asked for nothing but a chance, and took what was offered in good faith. The politics of the time made them much as the Mexicans are viewed today. Unwanted aliens who should be sent back from whence they came. Taking the offer of the US Army at face value, they were ridiculed and scorned and abused constantly. When battle was joined they found themselves fighting a people not so different from themselves. A people who shared ties of Catholicism, as well as spirit. They got nothing but hatred and ridicule from those who supposedly would welcome them, and could not be proud of fighting Mexicans, who shared so much in common with them. All they asked was a place to belong. Once they found it, they fought for it with all they had. It just happened, they found it in the ones they were supposed to be fighting.

This is one of the most powerfully moving films I've ever seen. Maybe it does lack some technical expertise, but I got so totally lost in the storyline, I didn't notice that. This film is precisely what I appreciate so much about Tom Berenger: it seems that Tom Berenger can take a small episode of history and make it memorable--so memorable, in fact, that I've seen this movie only twice, but scenes from it keep playing in my mind.

Someday, perhaps, when this film achieves the reputation as a classic that it deserves it will be widely re-released. A labor of love for Berenger, it features the acclaimed actor in possibly his greatest performance as an Irish sergeant who fights with his men on the side of the Mexicans during the Mexican war. Tom is incredible here, especially in the closing scenes, but everything is superb here, the music, photography, direction by Lance Hool, supporting performances, everything you could ask for in a spectacle like this.See this film.

John Riley did indeed lead Irish deserters for Mexico in the war. The Irish were ill-used by Nativist officers who didn't like 'croppies.' Protestant America was feeling threatened by the huge influx of Catholic Irish flooding into the US from famine-struck Ireland. Few troops have been given more reason to desert. However, the movie tells it all wrong. Riley wasn't a sergeant and didn't plan to return after getting his men to safety. He was a private who swam the Rio Grande a month before the war was declared. He responded to 'desertion leaflets' that the Mexicans had sneaked into American Camps. No US army ever had higher desertion rates.

The treatment of Winfield Scott is rather harsh. Riley was actually sentenced to hang with virtually all of his men but it was Scott who commuted his sentence (the still harsh 50 lashes and branding), along with that of more than a score of his men. This infuriated Scott's Nativist officers.

Riley remained in the Mexican Army after the war for a year or so and almost certainly returned to Ireland thereafter. Also, he was a young fellow, about thirty, which made it hard to accept Tom in the role. Another thing that was irritating is that there is a list of the men who served under Riley and it is amazing that the screenwriter decided to create fictional replacements instead. Why? Also, one must not forget that most Irish, despite poor treatment by prejudiced officers, did not desert. Who was more heroic, those who deserted or those who didn't?

All in all, a disappointment. However, it is one of the very few films that deals with the Mexican American War, and for that I commend it.

It is a movie...so I expect there to be embellishments--in plot, especially, amongst other things. The acting? Well, I am not a movie critic...it was passable, not great, not horrible--most of the acting did seem flat and non-dimentional, however, you are getting just a glimpse of a few (a very few) of the major characters. What I do like overall, is, the fact that someone attempted to make a movie about this era of American History, especially, due to its pivotal role that the Mexican-American War would play in the years following the conclusion.

On the historical facts of the movie, well, it has errors: for example, the Americans seem to "out-number" the Mexican forces--and as we all know the average ratio was between 3:2 and 3:1, in favor of the Mexican Army, in all the battles--which could have made the movie more spectacular--for the "bad" Americans--if they can be called that--something that was latent but not overt. As others have pointed out, it also does have a "Mexican" bias, but this is due to the arrangement of the plot of the movie...concerning the San Patricios Companies of Foreigners. I personally thought the biases of the "named" characters (at least the Americans) were "historically" correct--despite any gaffes in acting. Zachary Taylor (James Gammon) had his "damn the consequences" attitude, and Winfield Scott (Patrick Bergen) was also "true" to the history. The "Anti-Catholic" (not just Anti-Irish) sentiment as portrayed by the junior officers and non-comms in front of the Colonel of the 5th US Infantry Regiment, is also in line with the time.

It is a shame that they could not work in more of the major characters (and a few of the Civil War Generals--in their baptism of fire). We see Scott, Taylor and Harney; It would have been nice to see others like Santa Anna, David Twiggs, William Worth, etc. as well as maybe Jackson as an Artillery Lieutenant moving his guns forward at Churubusco to take on the San Patrico batteries or Grant moving his men of the 4th Infantry forward, or even Lee reconoitering a position. However nice this may have been, it was extraneous to telling the movie-maker's story, and it was not to be.

Not every movie can be a "Gettysburg" calibre movie...but considering the "attention span" of my fellow countrymen (most would not endure a 4 hour movie--let alone the subject matter), this movie trys to be entertaining, as well as, historically "honest". I say, "bravo".