User Reviews

The Milagro Beanfield War poses "a reality straining to become a metaphor" to quote a delightful line of Donald Barthelme's. Some refer to this film as a fable -which in the narrow sense it is. But in the broader view this story is in no way mythical because it documents the eternal struggle of the meek and humble against a rapacious power establishment.

Milagro, a 300 year-old village in northern New Mexico, finds itself drying up and blowing away. The Latino inhabitants have been defrauded of their water rights by the political establishment as part of a plan to encourage them to sell out to developer Ladd Devine (Richard Bradford). Devine wants to turn the area into a country club, gated-community.

Fate plunges Joe Mondragon (Chick Vennera) into a pivotal role. The young man quite accidentally taps into the water lateral that crosses his land but to which Devine Development & Company exclusively owns water rights.

The bean field Mondragon inherited from his father has lain dry and barren these many years. Suddenly it has the opportunity to take back life. Should Mondragon shut off the flow of water that illegally irrigates his small farm? Or should he let it flow? It's a tough ethical dilemma. On the one hand he should obey the law -- which is an ass. On the other hand he should protest the moral injustice done to his family, his heritage and his neighbors.

The bean field is not the only thing to come alive. The Latino inhabitants of dying Milagro also find new life of their own. Fiery activist Ruby Archuleta (sexy Sonia Braga in a magnificent portrayal) seizes the moment to mobilize the people of the village. Devine calls in his connections with the governor. This brings the steely-eyed Kyril Montana, a hard-boiled investigator (Christopher Walken), to quell the rebellion. These forces in collision pose a classic plot.

Sounds like a dark and serious tale, no? Surprisingly it's quite the opposite. The vehicle turns out to be a fast-moving, dry comedy very much in the tradition of the popular, war-protest `cult-flick', The King of Hearts.

Cameo roles abound. Ruben Blades plays the Sheriff who sees everyone's point of view and struggles to keep peace between warring factions. John Heard plays a fading 60's activist, Charlie Bloom, who owns the small weekly tabloid that has become an icon in every tumbleweed flick. Anthropology student Herbie Platt (Daniel Stern) comes from NYU on a grant to study indigenous cultures of the Southwest and drops unsuspectingly into the maelstrom.

Carlos Riquelme steals the show as the octogenarian Amarante Cordova, the oldest man in Milagro. Cordova spends his days and nights talking with his guardian angel that also happens to be the ghost of Joe Mondragon's deceased father. Depending on camera angle, the audience can either see the guardian angel or can be as mystified as Platt, the young anthropologist. Platt intently observes Cordova as the old man sits in front of his hacienda earnestly talking to an empty chair that faces him. An enormous, pink pig (reminiscent of the Empress of Blandings in P. G. Wodehouse lore) follows Cordova everywhere as his most faithful companion.

The Academy gave this movie a well-deserved Oscar for best original music score. Had I been a voting member, I would also have given Carlos Riquelme best actor that year and Sonia Braga best actress. And for best supporting actress? I think the Pig!

You have to be quick! A special charm inspires the kind of laughter that will have you grabbing for the remote to play back many priceless scenes. So many lines are memorable, you will find yourself writing them on a pad.

THE GHOST: `That young man of yours does not realize what he is getting into.'

AMARANTE CORDOVA: `If we all knew what we were getting into, nothing would ever get done!'

So get it done. Go buy this for your video collection. It's a keeper and rates inclusion in that quirky hall of fame called the `cult-flick.'

Four Stars!

This is one of those intelligent slow-moving tales with almost no commercial potential that somehow find themselves being made thanks to the involvement of a major star or director – Robert Redford in this case, who just happens to be both a major actor and director. The plot is fairly thin, but Redford's more interested in developing character and admiring the scenery as he does so. There's a mix of Hollywood types (Walken, Heard, Griffith, etc) and lesser-known actors, and you'd expect the bigger names to look out of place. They do look different from the town-folk of Milagro, to be sure, but, for the most part they're supposed to. Walken is a cop drafted in by land developers to step on the minor irritation initially provided by a nothing farmer when he almost inadvertently diverts water that doesn't belong to him to grow the beans that cause the frictions between the townspeople and the developers to come to a head; Heard is an outcast from the city, a 60s radical and former lawyer preciously licking his wounds in a place where he thinks trouble can't find him. They're both good, as you'd expect, but they can't compete with the fascinating character contained in the lined and sun-baked faces of the locals.

It's almost a fable, this story, with some mystical elements that don't always sit comfortably with other aspects of the tale. Most of these are provided by the hermit-like old neighbour of Joe Mandragon, the film's protagonist, who holds conversations with a long-dead brother who casts shadows on walls. Richard Bradford is quite memorable as the chief bad guy, a slick white-haired type. The townspeople should be allied against him but, even as the beanfield farmer makes a stand they are too apathetic and blinkered to do so. They can't believe bad things will happen to them until they do. Had they shown a little more resolve they would have found that the people plotting to destroy their village in the process of developing a leisure resort really aren't that clever themselves – it's only their own listlessness – even Mondragon wavers when the developers offer him some construction work – that puts them in the position they find themselves.

Two minor weak points: Chick Vennerra as Mondragon has a tendency to overact at times and Daniel Stern as a stranded sociology major seems almost completely superfluous to the plot.

A small town of mostly Mexican residents is about to be ruined by a land developer who has visions of hotels, motels, condos, and ski lodges dancing in his head. The few hundred men and women in Milagro are divided about what to do. Some see construction jobs bringing in money and excitement. Others feel that "our town is a family." The developer and his team of henchmen are all in this together, but the conflict between the townspeople grows until an accidental shooting takes place. The main mean guy, Christopher Walken, hunts down the accidental shootist, Chick Vennera, but the victim of the shooting recovers and refuses to press charges. Richard Bradford is the head of the development company and gives up his attempt to buy the land, raging against his advisers. This summary makes it sound like some angry docu-drama, but it's a surprisingly gentle and whimsical movie.

This is a kind of tricky area to deal with in any kind of fiction. The tendency is to make the villagers and the interlopers generic. How many times have we seen these romanticized peasants? They always go about their business in a languid informal manner. They sing a lot. They eat with gusto. They don't mind a drink now and then. They have a great sense of humor and a mystical feeling for the land. Often there's a highly respected, or at any rate easily tolerated, dotty ancient man or woman.

And how often have we seen the equivalent of these land developers? They dress in suits and ties. They're full of guile. They press the law to its limits and maybe a little beyond. They have no particular feelings for each other. Their only interest is pelf.

The director, Robert Redford, doesn't entirely avoid these clichés, but he keep them about as toned down as this kind of story permits. Some of the actors aren't that convincing, but Christopher Walken certainly is. Every performance he gives seems like a polished gem. The film has virtues beyond the plot and the other usual elements. The photography captures a magnificent landscape. Not staggeringly majestic -- not the Grand Canyon -- not that raw -- but a silent and self-satisfied ocean of pinyon and juniper clotted rolling hills. You can almost smell the Pinesol.

Alas, though, the tony resort development is a canard. That's not the problem facing these small-town good guys. It's the people who are going to live in those condos and ski on those slopes that present the problem and the problem extends far beyond the town limits of Milagro or even San Juan County. And it's not a pleasant problem to contemplate because it involves us.

The people who will live in those condos must live somewhere, and some day they will have to live here, and, as the local editor, John Heard, points out, they'll demand clean water and restaurants. Taxes will skyrocket and urban sprawl will sprawl.

In 1950, the population of the earth was roughly 2 billion. It's now 6 billion and by 2050 will have doubled.

Robert Bradford and the Ladd Devine Development company may give up in disgust but can anyone doubt that there will be another such entity offering greater bribes ten years from now? Or that eventually one or another such entity will get what it wants? Or that such entities are only the thin end of the wedge of a change process whose proportions are monumental?

The good folks of Milagro are going to lose their village, just like everybody else. But how can we argue against population growth? You might as well argue against motherhood and apple pie.

Spoilers??

First 20 minutes or so may turn away some. So don't judge the movie on the first 20 minutes. It does get better.

I did think some of the white's took some of the power away from the Milagro people. The white characters really served little purpose. This is probably the only movie of Christopher Walken's that you can't tell if he's a jacka** or not. First he shoots at the lead character and then someone tells him to uncuff him. Being true to Walken's nature you'd think he'd be smiling right up to the point where he kills the guy. But he doesn't and follows orders.. Not to mention it's got a rather conflicting ending. I really don't know what the directors intention is. Either the old man's going to take a shortcut to the party or the angel's taking him to heaven. You try to figure it out. :)

6/10

Quality: 7/10 Entertainment: 4/10 Replayable: 4/10