The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)

The Milagro Beanfield War

Milagro, New Mexico. Population 426. Nothing had changed here for 300 years. But there's something about this day...

Directed by Robert Redford

Featuring: Ruben Blades, Sonia Braga, John Heard, Christopher Walken, Melanie Griffith

Rating: 2 stars

I had to see this film for a class on Magical Realism. While everyone in my class was raving about Robert Redford's The Milagro Beanfield War, all I could do was sit there and wonder why I did not like it. The best way to explain my sentiment is by saying that I think this movie has an identity crisis. Is it a fable, magical realism, fantasy, or just a big old mess?

Redford's The Milagro's Beanfield War possesses many of the defining characteristics of Magical Realism, but it does not function as a Magical Realist work should. A work of Magical Realism must seamlessly carry each and every character in the story from the level of the real into the level of the marvelous. Now this is what bothered me the most: Some characters in The Milagro's Beanfield War such as Lad (Richard Bradford) and Flossie Devine (Melanie Griffith) seem to be completely oblivious to the supernatural level of the story, while others such as Ruby Archuleta (Sonia Braga) and Charlie Bloom (John Heard) are too preocuppied with political aspect of the story to really grasp what is going on. Sheriff Bernie Montoya (Ruben Blades) mediates between both parts at a superficial level, and for this reason, stands at the edge of the real and the fantastical for most of the film. Only Amarante Cordova (Carlos Rilqueme) through his interaction with Coyote Angel (Robert Carricart) is present in both levels of the story. It is in this regard that I agree with Roger Ebert's confusion:

“...the problem is, some of the people in the story know it's a fable and others do not. This causes an uncertainty that runs all through the film, making it hard to weigh some scenes against others.”

When watching The Milagro Beansfield War, I felt that the movie as a whole was in a state of indecision and that state was passed on to me to the point that I could not really pinpoint what the movie was trying to accomplish. Overall, I'd say the movie is okay. Good acting by everyone involved except for Christopher Walken who pretty much plays the same role in every movie. I thought the score did an excellent job at capturing the flair of Southwestern Mexican American culture). If you can get past the confusion regarding the plot, then I'd say this movie can be fairly entertaining, but nothing to call home about.

-Simulacrum