Review of Amigo (2011) by Walter M — 03 Sep 2011

"Amigo" starts out on an ordinary day in the baryo of San Ysidro in the Philippines in 1900 before the silence is broken by the American army invading to restore order. Joaquin(James Obenza) escapes just ahead of the army's bullets to join the insurrectionaries led by his uncle Simon(Ronnie Lazaro), while leaving behind his father Rafael(Joel Torre) to lead the village. The Americans also release the prisoners held by the insurrectionaries, allowing them to go to Manila but Father Hidalgo(Yul Vazquez) agrees to stay as there are souls to save and people to annoy. Lieutenant Compton(Garret Dillahunt) is eager to move on also but Colonel Hardacre(Chris Cooper) orders him to stay behind so his soldiers can head off any rebellion.

"Amigo" is John Sayles in fine form in that he not only captures the rhythms and details of another time and place, with a little known bit of history which I had studied back in college, but also in telling a timeless story that admittedly does have a hokey and drawn out ending. He also economically employs scraps of dialogue to fill in the backstory on the various characters. A lot of that goes to his talent for telling a story from as many different angles as possible which keeps the villains to a minimum and not sugarcoating the actions of the insurrectionists. If there is one, then I would like to volunteer the colonel, as his actions will have repercussions for decades to come. It's not just the writing that is to be applauded but also an excellent use of crosscutting between similar activities as performed by different groups and the best metaphor ever for cockfighting. Throughout, it is the Filipino people that have the most sympathy here, as underlined by Rafael when he points out that they are fucked from both sides.