The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)

 The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)

It took me some time to gather thoughts about Robert Redford’s The Milagro Beanfield War. On one hand, it is clear that Redford put plenty of thought into this inspirational fable and clearly has a love for the Indian-Mexican-Spanish culture of the Southwest. He even tried to film at the Plaza del Cerro, which is believed to be the last fortified Spanish plaza in North America. However, locals resisted Redford’s idea to film there. It shows through his investment of rather colorful characters. On the other hand, the story gets a bit muddled at times. Redford presents two sides of a story, but has a difficult time picking a side. As a result, there are moments where the story is bogged down into different realities. You will know what I mean when you see the film. Regardless, even if some sections were not as strong, I was fascinated throughout. This is certainly an ambitious achievement for the new director. I always like when a director chases ambition even if it is not 100% successful.

Redford has been a successful actor for years and in 1980, he shocked the world with his powerful Academy Award-winning debut, Ordinary People. Eight years later, he tackled a different kind of drama for his second feature. Although it some moments are based in reality, this film is set within the magical realism genre. This genre is a sometimes romanticized and naturalistic blend of the whimsical and the supernatural. So, be prepared for ghosts and really anything of that nature. This folklore was adapted by John Nichols from his own novel. His book was not widely popular which unfortunately translated to the movie. I do think Redford sometimes had a hard time trying to discern the different realities from one another and you can tell from the characters that is the case. Fun fact! It is believed this feature is one of the first American films to fall for the Latin-American concept of magical realism. Whether or not the story works is one thing, but Robbie Greenberg’s outstanding cinematography and Dave Grusin’s haunting score (which received some Oscar love) at least lent themselves to this folklore idea in a positive manner.

Our story takes place in Milagro, a small New Mexico town. Ladd Devine (Richard Bradford) has grand plans to build a resort. This fits in with the time as big business is buying land to build these resorts/hotels/shopping malls. Ruby Archuleta (Sonia Braga), an activist and Charlie Bloom (John Heard) are against this new resort because it will displace the local Hispanic farmers. Of course, with the building of this resort will result in short-term construction job opportunities. Joe Mondragon (Chick Vennera), one day, kicks an irrigation gate which runs past his dry field and out comes water to his field. He decided to use this water to grow beans. The local people support him because they are fed up with the water laws meant to benefit the rich. The Governor decides to send in his fixer, Kyril Montana (Christopher Walken) to smooth things over before a fully-fledged war develops.

The performances are solid across the board. There are lots of characters to watch out for within this ensemble cast. Christopher Walken always delivers strong performances, and this film is no exception. His character was extremely ruthless. Sonia Braga delivers a light-hearted if a bit maniacal performance. She had some good chemistry with another solid character actor, John Heard. I also need to shout out Ruben Blades, the sheriff who mediates between both sides. Really never seen any other performances of his, but he did have a worthy performance.

Overall, The Milagro Beanfield War may not be Robert Redford’s finest. The story needs some tuning, but I admire the ambition, the characters, and how the story was told. The fairytale aspect did give the film somewhat of a mystical aura but needs some fine tuning as I said. He certainly learned more about his filmmaking craft as a result. This is no Ordinary People, but it does not need to be. A decent watch!

My Grade: B-



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