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The Milagro Beanfield War

Rating

Director

Robert Redford

Screenplay

John Nichols, David Ward (Novel: John Nichols)

Length

1h 57m

Starring

Rubén Blades, Richard Bradford, Sonia Braga, Julie Carmen, James Gammon, Melanie Griffith, John Heard, Carlos Riquelme, Daniel Stern, Chick Vennera, Christopher Walken, Freddy Fender, Tony Genaro, Jerry Hardin, Ronald G. Joseph, Mario Arrambide

MPAA Rating

R

Basic Plot

A fantasy about a man, a beanfield, a land development, an old man and a pig.

Review

Prejudice rears its ugly head in many forms, but against a measly beanfield?

“The Milagro Beanfield War” is a gentle fable preaching against intolerance. While it is quite heavy-handed in its delivery, “Milagro” is a wonderful little film that will make you laugh and cry.

The movie opens on a mysterious accordion player dancing around a small village in the wee hours of the morning. After he is finished playing his song, the sleepy little town of Milagro greets the dawn.

The first character we can identify is a large pig that wanders through the town nibbling on various gardens. He’s shooed away by Joe Mondragon (Chick Vennera) who is a poor man continually looking for work.

He attempts to get a job working for a construction company that is building a major land development nearby. When they tell him no, he takes a trip out to his beanfield, where it is dying in the hot afternoon sun. So perturbed at the blockage of his irrigation valve by the state, he kicks it and accidentally knocks it open.

Instead of trying to fix it, he allows it to feed his struggling beanfield and begins a large amount of trouble.

Ladd Devine (Richard Bradford), the financier of the land development gets word of this and promptly attempts to stop Mondragon from taking any more water. When reason doesn’t appear to work, he hires an unscrupulous manager, Kyril Montana (Christopher Walken) to come and eliminate the problem.

A Milagro citizen, Ruby Archuleta (Sonia Braga), finds out about the situation and promptly tries to stir up a hornet’s nest with the other townsfolk to try and stop the development from proceeding, despite it being a financial benefit to the town.

She goes so far as to try and persuade a retired lawyer, now running a newspaper in town, to help the situation. Charlie Bloom (John Heard) is reluctant at first, but eventually decides to assist.

While the film plays intelligently and sympathetically, it is still overly manipulative and tries to bludgeon us into its belief system. To an extent it works, but it is so evident, that it sometimes gets in the way of this lively fantasy.

Performances are all on target, with Walken playing his usual bad guy to perfection.

During the movie, we see vignettes of the old man and his pig having conversations with an apparition that no one sees. It takes the form of an old friend and appears to be angelic in nature.

The cinematography stands out very well. It is one of the best photographed movies I’ve seen. Also of note is the beautiful, Latino-fantasy score. It was very deserving of the Oscar for Original Score for 1988.

“Milagro” is a wonderful film with a nice message that is too overpowering to the story.

Review Written

November 13, 1998