Popular reviews

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  Review by Stephen M ★★★ 2

  There aren't too many films about the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). So I was curious to see John Sayles' film. The war began at the close of the Spanish-American War, when the US annexed Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, refusing to acknowledge the Filipino revolutionary forces who'd only recently declared freedom from Spain. So one Spain's occupying force was replaced by the US.

  Sayles' take on this is clearly anti-imperialist. But by focusing on a single village in Luzon, he spends equal time with all three sides - the guerrilla revolutionary forces, the American militia, and the villagers in an uneasy alliance with the occupiers (with the rebels branding them as collaborators). In the style typical of his films,…

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  Review by John Johnson ★★½

  It's too bad that this is such a bland film because the Filipino-American War is a chapter of history that begs for broader awareness. With the exception of Chris Cooper, who is criminally underutilized, the American actors were subpar... sometimes painfully so. And though writer-director-editor John Sayles' talent for characterization shines through in a few places, his plotting is haphazard and his editing choices are often confusing, as if he wanted to show all his footage rather than construct cohesive scenes with dramatic tension. An honest effort that falls short.

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  Review by Ese 👉 Víctor 1

  Sayles’ favorite perspective is the one just trying to get by, mending fences, laying low, everyone’s “amigo” wedged between the revolutionary and the reactionary. He aint nobody’s idea of hero, not now, not in the 3rd act, not never. He’s not even always the proverbial Hard Workin' Little Guy - here he’s the landed gentry.

  so to summarize: the rebels brand him a traitor, the invaders see him as a monkey, the Europeans as heathen scum while the villagers resent his wealth and privilege .

  Meanwhile they bring out the short coffins for the babies killed in the crossfire.

  Sayles' other favorite foil is unintended consequences - as triggered by the invading marauders as well as the defending indigenous.

  Maybe Sayles is a pacifist though the name of the production company that made this film may be a clue.

  As seen on YouTube

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  Review by Christian Rosander ★★★

  Interesting in many ways. The conflict around the Philippines in the late 19th and early 20th century is something that's rarely talked about. This movie does shed some light, but not enough to make it more than just interesting.

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  Review by Bill Scurry ★★★★

  Pinoy actor Joel Torre is a revelation in this disturbing fictional epic of a real war, the Filipino-American conflict in 1900 as a spillover of the Spanish-American War. Torre plays a canny village chief tasked with hosting the brutal US occupation as the "good guys" sweep the hills for insurgents, and the damage to the barrio is profound and wrong. Garrett Dillahunt is superb as the unconvinced lieutenant leading the garrison through inhumane acts, and Yul Vasquez is despicable as the Catholic priest whose will is to crush the poor peasants he claims to serve. In its way this is a condemnation of every US misadventure in Asia through the 20th century, a brutal catalog of how everything we touched was demolished -- it has extra meaning post-Afghanistan, as if Sayles knew this was all destined to happen again.

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  Review by russman ★★½

  Elections are sacred

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  Review by Bart D'Alauro ★★★★ 2

  Most of the time I'm happy just to hang out in John Sayles' vivid settings with his large casts of very recognizably human characters. Nasty conflicts and horrible injustices are essential parts of his films, but he always slows things down to let us visit someplace unfamiliar and luxuriate in the company of strangers we want to get to know better. I should have known that the best parts of Amigo would be the considerable amount of hangout time we get in the little Philippine baryo watching the occupying American soldiers and the innocent villagers trying to understand each other. Our sympathies stay firmly on the side of the Filipinos who just want the invading forces to leave them alone,…

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  Review by Rohit ★★★★

  US : "elections are sacred" - goes ahead and occupies a country.

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  Review by EudoraFletcher ★★★

  US-American-Filipino Low Budget (1,5 mio $) Co-production about a small snipet of the US-American occupation of the Philippines.

  Around 1900 some US-soldiers invade a Philippine village and force the mayor to help them with their hunt of the guerilla fighters that are being led by the mayors brother. This must lead to conflicts for the mayor of course.

  The movie has been filmed on Bohol which doesn´t play a role for the story. At least it has been produced on the Philippines and some famous local actors have been casted, like Irma Adlawan und John Arcilla. For the western audience Garret Dillahunt is acting as main character Lt. Compton.

  The story partially has been staged a little bit clumsy, but…

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  Review by kj quest ★★½

  there's a really bold and interesting movie with something to say about the morality of war as presented against the morality of soldiers and i really respect any "war movie" that's this much more focused on politics than fighting, but this screenplay calls for very strong naturalistic performances and every actor is either not very good or playing it way too heightened. as a production, i respect and enjoy it. those performances are just rough though.

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★½

  49/100

  [Originally written from TIFF '10]

  Okay, Sayles is over in my opinion. We've lost him forever to dreary righteousness. I said it before and I can only say it again: Dude needs to swear off anything involving regionalism for a while and just dash off some lurid genre piece. Somebody stand over his shoulder at the keyboard and just slap him hard every time he types the word "American." Seriously.]

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  Review by theon! ★★½

  watched this for dane dehaan