Product Description

Beautifully photographed (Boxoffice), this intriguing film (The Hollywood Reporter) tells the powerful true tale of the Saint Patrick Battalion, a group of soldiers enlisted from Ireland to fight a brutal war between the U.S. and Mexico. Solid performances from Tom Berenger (Gingerbread Man), Joaquim De Almeida (Clear and Present Danger) and Patrick Bergin (Sleeping With the Enemy) drive home this film's universal story about standing up for one's beliefs in the face of adversity. When a small group of Irish soldiersfighting for the U.S. during the Mexican-American Warare treated harshly for their religious convictions, fellow compatriot and career soldier Sergeant John Reilly (Berenger) takes up their cause and leads them in a desperate escape across the border into the enemy territory of Mexico. Now, they must convince a Mexican rebel leader (De Almeida) to let them fight against the U.S. so they can protect their beliefs and save their own lives from the punishment for treason!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26299 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-02-29
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.com
This historical drama set during the Mexican War is ambitious and tries to grapple with some serious themes, but it also tends to meander before finally finding a dramatic conclusion. Tom Berenger, who puts in a credible performance as an Irishman serving as an officer in the U.S. Army of the late 1840s, impulsively rides off with band of deserters, fellow Irish immigrants who have been persecuted for practicing their Catholic religion in the ranks. Berenger's character and the rebellious Irish lads flee into the hills of Mexico, where they are quickly taken captive by banditos who happen to be encamped with beautiful señoritas wearing dresses that can just never stay up on both shoulders at once. A romantic plot begins, but is put aside while Berenger and his men form their own Irish brigade to fight with the Mexicans against the U.S. troops invading from the north. After a series of hard-fought battles, their endeavors end disastrously. The setting of the Mexican War is a welcome change from most military adventure films, but unfortunately the screenplay seldom breaks away from a languid pace and clichéd situations, and what drama can be mustered plays out predictably. --Robert J. McNamara

Customer Reviews

One man's hero...
...is another man's traitor. That's the way it is: the San Patricios are heroes -rightly so- to us Mexicans and traitors -rightly so as well- to the Americans, for they fought for us and deserted them. To argue about whether they did the right thing or not is futile; it depends on which side you are on. History always has two stories to tell and that's what makes it fascinating.

However, I'm not so sure I liked this movie even if most of what it shows is true. I commend the fact that being this, to my knowledge, the only American movie ever made about the Mexican War, it does not repeat the same old clichés one finds in all those Alamo movies, where the Mexicans are but laughing hyenas and the Americans angels on the side of justice. Of course, it could hardly be portrayed that way in this case, given the unjust nature of this particular war. But I think the movie goes the other way a little too much: the Mexicans are idealized beyond recognition, and that doesn't help history either.

The truth is the United States invaded Mexico when that country was having a civil war of its own. That's why we were weaker, that's why we lost, and that should have been made explicit in the movie. Instead it goes for the 'suffering defenseless noble peasant' stereotype Hollywood always uses whenever it wants to show Mexicans in a better light. I've seen it in 'Viva Zapata!', I've seen it in 'The Magnificent Seven', in 'The Wild Bunch', in countless other pictures and, frankly, I'm as fed up with it as with the greaser one. Please portray us as normal people for once!

All that romantically patriotic menáge à trois between Tom Berenger, Daniela Romo and Joaquim De Almeida merely sinks the movie. Whoever thought those awful lines, let alone those characters? Mexicans don't talk that way! Don't do us no favors, it only makes us sound like tragic proud imbeciles! And as for historical accuracy, John O'Reilly did not "dissappeared into the mountains of Mexico" as the movie so cornly concludes, but ended his days a blind beggar in the streets of Mexico City, a fact that shames me as a Mexican. I think the San Patricios deserved better, both in real life and in the movie.

I loved this movie, and I am an American
but I'm also one-half Irish.

For me, if a movie is good, it'll make me cry. (I'm a girl! Gimme a break!) This movie had me crying within ten minutes--when John Riley is listening to his men who are in the brig, awaiting the whip, for committing the unpardonable offense of having gone to Mass.

More Anti-Catholic sentiment right after that, with the Kamp Kommandant, Gaine, trying to refuse a pass to Riley so that Riley himself could go to Mass.

Riley goes to Mass and finds more US Army there, worshiping with Catholic Mexicans. (I recognized the Benediction from having gone to Catholic school for six years. That is definitely authentic.) They're Irish, and they're really concerned over the men who're scheduled to be flogged that night.

Riley rides with them and helps free his fellow Catholics, and they ride away, into the night, headed for Mexico...

...where they are ambushed by a bunch of ragged banditos, headed by de Almeida and his girlie friend, portrayed by Daniela Romos. This is where the truth and fiction become a bit blurred.

However, the fact is that the San Patricios fought on the Mexican side for Mexican land and the promise of citizenship; they probably did desert because America really was more Protestant than any other religion and had a British view of the Irish. It's true, just look in some of the publications of the day and really look at how Irish were portrayed in newspapers of the time.

They are still heroes to the Mexicans, and the town (in Co. Clare) where John Riley was born honors him on his birthday every year.

I do love this movie, but it is NOT a typical piece of Hollywood syrup--Our Hero is branded on both cheeks and his men are hung before his eyes for desertion. He is then depicted, as Tom Berenger's voice over tells us at the end of the movie, as having "disappeared into the hills of Mexico, never to be seen again."

I'm sorry that there are those that do not like this movie. I respect your opinion; I even understand why you don't like the movie. But I love it because it spoke to my soul in a way that no movie has, ever.

Here's why: Soy Irlandes y Norteamericana y Catolica. (My Spanish may suck, but you get the drift.)

Thanks for reading my review.

Has its flaws, but well worth a look
Without going into the plot (others below have done it) I'll just say that this a fairly good historical pic about a period in U.S. history you don't hear much about, the Mexican War. It was not the most shining moment in our history, as basically we were the aggressors and the war was a land grab. Those who call this movie "anti-American" must be the "we-can-do-no-wrong" types (as opposed to the blame-America-first liberals, who think we are the source of the world's problems! The truth, of course, is somewhere in between.)

Anyways, while obviously not a big-budget film, director Lance Hool does a good job with what he has. Go into this expecting it to be at the quality level of a good made-for-TV pic and you won't be disappointed. Also, if you're the type of viewer who needs an action scene every five minutes or else you think the movie is "boring," give this one a miss. It has more to do with story and character than with battle sequences. Berenger is quite good in the lead (although I couldn't help picturing Mel Gibson in this role, what with its William Wallace-type overtones) and most of the rest of the cast is ok too, with a couple exceptions in secondary roles. I do agree with the other reviewers that the romance should have been scrapped. As important as the film's quality, though, is the story it tells, and it's apparent that those who made this film cared about that story. Some sequences are quite moving, and even though I am not a Catholic, I can sympathize with the characters in this story who have to make a choice between loyalties to their country and their faith.