The Critics of "For Greater Glory"

The Critics of “For Greater Glory”
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Thursday, July 26, 2012

Preface: The purpose of this letter is study the mindset of a post-Christian mentality that we have in America today and how to deal with it. I recall Venerable Fulton Sheen on television. He would rip these critics to shreds with common sense and natural law. I wish we had some Catholic laity out there to do likewise.

“For Greater Glory” is a superb religious historical film. What I liked in particular is that it enhances a great respect for the character of the Mexican people. So let us take a look at Media Research Center, Monthly Report, (4 pages) V. 19, issue 7, July 2012 section “Anti-Christian Film Critics” and L. Brent Bozell’s article - Viva Cristo Rey!

“Elitist and leftist film critic at some of the nation’s top papers hyper-criticized and smeared the new movie For Greater Glory because it tells the truth about anti-Catholic persecution in 1920s Mexico and the pro-Christian “Cristeros” who fought back and won.

“On June 1 at the L.A. Times, Robert Abele sneered that the film is “mostly single-minded, dying-for-the cause fodder, catnip for crusaders but not so interesting to those looking for a deeper view in how politics and religion can tragically clash.”

“The NYT’s Stephen Hodin minimized the depiction of 14-year old Jose Luis Sanchez’s murder as a “kind of passion play exploited for maximum teary-eyed outrage.”

“Tom Long at the Detroit Times yawned that “apparently the Mexican government went on some sort of a rampage against Catholics. Priests were shot, churches shuttered, that kind of thing. … And why do we care?”

“Mexico’s then-Marxist government war against Catholics is a historical fact and occurred between 1927 and 1929. An estimated 90,000 died in the conflict, including at least 30,000 Cristeros. In addition, 25 people who defended the faith in Mexico have since been declared saints; the 14-year-old boy, Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio, who was brutally tortured and then shot in the head, has been declared blessed (the last step towards sainthood) by the Catholic Church…

“Slant magazine pans it as a film “that gives the screen epic a bad name.” It attacks the “solemn speechifying,” the “overstuffed cast of characters,” the “half-baked material,” and given “this religion is specifically Catholic…[the movie] … makes the material a tough sell.” When Garcia’s character ultimately converts to Christianity, “we’re back to embracing a worldview where the implied mandate to practice Catholicism fells near as onerous as the inability to do so…

“Slant dismisses “a whole host of bathetic subplots” claiming “its martyrdom fetish reaches its grotesque nadir when a young boy dies rather than make the most token anti-Catholic gesture.”… The “most token anti-Catholic gesture” which would have saved his life was his refusal to shout “Death to Christ the King,” instead proclaiming “Viva Cristo Rey!” Jose was 14. He was beatified by Benedict XVI in 2005. It is still illegal to celebrate Mass outdoors in Mexico.”

George H. Kubeck, I do not have any respect for the two-faced-double-standard-media that we have in America today. For American Christians, they are like Pravda was to Communist Russia and Goebbels propaganda media was to Nazi Germany.