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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining romp distantly related to history,
By
This review is from: And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (HBO Films) [2003] [DVD] (DVD)
Although this is definitely based on fact the producers have, probably rightly, taken full advantage of a film maker's license to not let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story. The story does deal with serious issues such as whether the bad caused by revolutions is justified by the good and is given current relevance by an earnest sub-text about threats to US oil supplies and the inevitable response. As usual with Hollywood treatments of this subject the action is viewed through the response of an American interlocutor; presumably they do not trust their audience to have the maturity to be interested in Mexican history otherwise.
However, the film is best viewed as entertainment. It's well written and well acted (despite the somewhat strange casting of Jim Broadbent as an American movie mogul and the often disturbing resemblance between Banderas' Villa and Graeme Souness) and clearly benefits from a budget big enough to convincingly represent the scale of the conflict that was the first major revolution of the twentieth century. Recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When the Lens is Mightier Than the Sword.,
By Bob Salter "Captain Spindrift" (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER)
This review is from: And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (HBO Films) [2003] [DVD] (DVD)
As this film makes clear from the start, the story really is too preposterous not to be true. In 1914 the American Mutual Film Corporation, with the might of the legendary film director D W Griffiths behind it, agreed to pay Pancho Villa 25,000 dollars in advance to film the story of his life. This story featured Villa himself, and incredibly contained actual footage from some of his battles against Huerta's oppressive regime. By agreeing for the company to shoot battle scenes in daylight he was also promised fifty per cent of any profits. The film titled "The Life of General Villa" which would now be considered an historic treasure has sadly been lost. The famous film director Raoul Walsh starred as a young Villa, in the days before he turned to directing following the loss of an eye in an accident. If ever there was a story that encapsulated the phrase 'truth being stranger than fiction' then this is it, and the perfect subject for a movie which Australian director Bruce Beresford has duly obliged with.
Eion Bailey plays the young producer who is sent to Villa to make the film. The assignment is not quite what the young man expects, as he begins to gain the respect of a man whom he grows to love for his generous gestures, and hate for his moments of blind brutality. As one character says in the film "it's the movies job to make truth the first casualty in war", which is so often true. The original film certainly glamourised Villa's life, but the same cannot be said of this one which is far from a whitewash. It shows a man willing to shoot a grieving woman in the head, and blithely order an English rancher shot dead in cold blood. The movie shows how the media has the power to influence wars, when the producer asks Villa to attack from the west rather than the east for the better light. A case of the lens being mightier than the sword as one character so perceptively puts it. The Aussie director Bruce Beresford who directed the very fine Boer War court martial film "Breaker Morant", has made a another very good film with this one. It is one of the few occasions I recall that I did not realise I was watching a made for TV film, so good were the production values. Antonio Banderas is a pleasant surprise as Villa, a role where he is able to express himself more convincingly in his native Spanish. Jim Broadbent oddly turns up as a strangely accented American movie mogul. Perhaps best of all is Alan Arkin as a New York Jewish mercenary working for Villa as a very effective machine gunner. The movie does pose some interesting questions about the hazy distinctions between truth and myth. It also accurately portrays the revolution with all it's chaotically noble aims, which as always lead to more suffering for the simple peon class. There is a liberal sprinkling of sardonic humour, which at times makes it hard to know whether to laugh or cry. The film suffered from a very limited release which is a great pity, and it certainly deserves to be much better known. A comfortable four stars and well worth a watch.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
viva villa!,
By Sarah "sj19" (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (HBO Films) [2003] [DVD] (DVD)
i watched this movie and became a fan not just of the movie but of pancho villa. i therefore feel it is necessary to point out that although pancho may have been a bandit, revolutionary and sometime thief, he would not have murdered a woman in cold blood, and probably killed George Benton by mistake. however, i am not adverse to the telling of a good story and i love this film. the cavalry charge out of the train is probably the best i have ever seen on film and i was very pleased to find that at least the first part of the film is conducted in a mixture of english and spanish- it would be ridiculous to have villa speaking perfect english as he was barely literate in spanish (mexicano). to have a spaniard playing pancho villa is quite funny really, as villa hated the spanish, but i can't honestly think of a better person to play him than antonio banderas. he doesn't play pancho villa, he is villa. he acts with a perfect swaggering arrogance and is actually very funny. its definitly worth watching. i would reccomend this to anybody.
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