Mexico, 1938. The very last warriors fight a rearguard action in the latter days of the Cristiada, the bloody war that lasted years between Roman Catholic rebels and the Mexican government, which wanted to reduce the power of the church with strict anticlerical laws. This small group of ‘cristeros’ are fighting for their religious freedom and holing up in the wild expanse of the Mexican landscape. Occasionally there is a shot; apart from that the war remains limited to just surviving with less and less under the merciless sun. The father of director Matías Meyer is a historian who published several books about the Cristiada, still a sensitive subject in Mexico. While a Hollywood film was also being made about this civil war, with leading roles for Andy Garcia and Eva Longoria, Meyer made the opposite of a Hollywood spectacle: performed by nonprofessional actors, The Last Christeros is an intimate, minimalist Western with great attention to tranquil and comradely moments.
Film details
Productielanden
Mexico, Netherlands
Jaar
2011
Festivaleditie
IFFR 2012
Lengte
90'
Medium/Formaat
35mm
Taal
Spanish
Première status
European première
Director
Matías Meyer
Producer
Julio Bárcenas, Matías Meyer, Paola Herrera, Frans van Gestel