Retro Film Review: One Man's Hero (1999)
Imagine a country led by people who consider themselves racially superior to other nations, a country where the most popular document is a pamphlet advocating violent grabbing of entire continent, a country that wages aggressive wars of conquests against their neighbours and subjects millions of people to genocide and slavery. Some might recognise Third Reich in the description above. Others, who like to learn their history from sources other than Hollywood films, could easily recognise United States of America in the first half of 19th Century. Until most recently, few people could accept this vision of USA, mostly because global domination of American pop culture conditioned the world to view USA through more recent incarnations based on WW2 and Cold War - as a benign superpower with a mission to promote liberty, democracy, human rights and world peace. So, it could be said that One Man's Hero, 1999 period drama directed by Lance Hool, is a film that appeared at least five years too late. Today, when world sees George W. Bush and USA in the same way world used to see Adolf Hitler and Germany, this film is more likely to be in tune with global sentiment.
The protagonists of the film are Irish immigrants who came to America in 1840s, fleeing potato famine, poverty and British oppression. In predominantly Protestant USA they are subjected to anti-Catholic bias and many of them see military service as the only way to escape it and prove loyalty to their new country. One of them, John Riley (played by Tom Berenger), earned the rank of Sergeant and respect of his superiors. As USA prepares to go to war with Mexico, many Irish soldiers are stationed in Texas. The Catholic faith they share with Mexicans is the reason why bigoted Protestant officers starts to see them as potential traitors. Riley, like many of his men, can't endure suspicions and humiliations and decides to desert and flee into Mexico. When war between USA and Mexico finally erupts, many Irish deserters decide to take Mexican side and protect their new country from their former comrades. They form San Patricio Battalion, unit that would take part in many important battles of Mexican-American War.
Simply because of the way it increased American territory in a spectacular fashion, Mexican-American War is among the most important events of American history. But Hollywood – institution situated in the territory that became American during this event - ignored it for whole range of reasons. So, it isn't surprising that One Man's Hero, one of rare films to deal with this topic, was financed by Spanish and Mexican companies. The film had fascinating subject and very capable cast. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be spectacular historic drama about bigotry, patriotism and shifting loyalties turned into lame and not particularly attractive combination of cheap melodrama, western cliches and "political correctness". The viewers are going to learn very little about the reasons for the war and why Mexicans lost. Milton S. Gelman's script condenses many important events in order to conform to 90 minutes of running time. The acting in film is solid, but many actors struggle with poorly written and cliche-ridden roles. Especially irritating is the way writers used rivalry between US generals Zachary Taylor (played by James Gammon) and Winfield Scott (played by Patrick Bergin) to turn the latter into psychopathic monster. Not attractive enough to be historical spectacle and not informative enough to be history lesson, One Man's Hero is a wasted opportunity.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on July 14th 2004)
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