Review of The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) by Federico P — 28 Sep 2008

Roshomon on the texas border.

The hunt is on for Gregorio Cortez, who some consider a hero others consider a muderer and thief. His trial would become a small legend, living on through mexican folk ballads, and southern news papers.

The movie uses the Roshomon method of showing a single incident from several perspectives, and the limits of the language barrier and culturual stereotypes, are more defined here than say, "Babel".

But besides the wider implications of the film, it's also a pretty good western. Lots of chase scenes, and desert landscapes. There is a tragedy here of miscommunication, that spawns a legend.

But at times the hunt does fall a bit flat(this was made for TV), still it's bettern than you might imagine, for the history minded.

College history classes, may be more interesting and obscure in approach than their high school counter parts, but Edward James Olmos remains, no matter how far on you go.