U.S. actor Andy Garcia brings to life Jalisco-born General Enrique Gorostieta in the new English-language movie “Cristiada,” which opens on 500 screens across Mexico Friday, April 20.
The Mexican-financed movie chronicles the 1926-1929 Cristero War, the rebellion against President Elias Plutarco Calles’ attempt to enforce the anti-clerical provisions of the 1917 Mexican Constitution and in effect secularize the country.
Although Gorostieta was a mason and not religious, he eagerly took on the role of turning the Cristeros – mostly farmers from Jalisco and Guanajuato – into a fighting force at the request of the Liga Nacional Defensora de la Libertad Religiosa (National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty). A veteran of the Mexican Revolution and very politically ambitious, it is generally believed that he shared none of the convictions of the Catholic soldiers under his command, although he earned their respect by drilling them into a well-organized and effective army.
But, as director Dean Wright told the Catholic News Agency, the war gave Gorostieta a new perspective on religion.
“His goal was to help reestablish the right to freedom of religion for everyone,” Wright said, but in the course of the film “we see him rediscover not only the meaning of his life, but the meaning of his faith.”
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