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The Alamo

The Alamo," despite its title, is about much more than that doomed Texas fortress most Americans have learned about at some point or another. It's about more than the Texas fight for independence from Mexico. "The Alamo" is not another war movie or a retelling of American folklore. It is primarily about men who are deeply flawed and who have become trapped by fate within the old fort.

Well, maybe the movie leaves that last part a tad ambiguous.

In 1836, Texas was a part of Mexico. Americans were allowed to settle on the expansive land and raise it so long as they stayed loyal subjects to the Mexican government. So, when the fighting eventually did break out (the Americans soon wanted the land as their own, and more of it, free from Mexican policies and edicts), it was more a Mexican civil war than it was an American freedom fight. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, self-proclaimed dictator of Mexico and commander of its military, raised an army and marched north to quell the Texian rebellion.

For better or worse, director John Lee Hancock (himself a Texan) leaves much of these background details out, but it’s excusable. The stories he fleshes out among his characters, pitted against the backdrop of an impressive Alamo set, is what the movie is all about. How the 200 or so defenders of the Alamo got there is not dwelled upon so much as their courage for staying there till the end. As well as their utter dread of what they know is coming once the 13 day siege begins.

This was a film touted by many to finally tell both sides of the Alamo story: and it does, kind of, though I suspect the Mexican side of the story lost the battle of the post-production editing room. When the Mexican characters speak, they speak Spanish. When they attack the Alamo, you marvel at the courage the real soldiers must have shown. I don't care what anyone says...being the first man up a makeshift ladder while attacking a fort takes serious bravado.

And then, there's Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, or David, as he prefers to be called, a backwoods man who went from the frontier to Congress and then back to a new frontier in Texas. Thornton presents Crockett perpetually uncomfortable with his celebrity status, while at the same time, basking in the uneasy glow. He’s a likeable guy that connects with just about everyone, and plays a mean fiddle, too. He arrives at the Alamo with his band of pards just before the Mexicans arrive, blissfully unaware of the region's growing conflict. In one of the film’s most priceless scenes, Thornton's happy grin turns wary when a Texan confidently chirps the Mexican Army would never attack now that Davy Crockett is here. "But I understood the fighting to be over," Crockett says, blinking. "Ain't it?"

It is Thornton's Crockett who steals the film, and gives the movie's soul a powerful tragedy. He watches with a quiet, and increasingly sad concern as the Mexican army under the flamboyant Santa Anna arrives and surrounds the fortress. Crockett knows that he and everyone else within the Alamo are sitting ducks, but his own reputation keeps him (or traps him) from trying to escape. "I’ve been stuck inside these walls all my life," Crockett laments at one point. It’s a fitting line that could have been trite with the wrong actor. Thornton makes it touching.

When the final Mexican assault does happen, it unfolds in a nighttime sequence so deliberate and so agonizing, the emotional impact is elevated to a poetic level. With his friends gunned down around him, Thornton gives off the emotional pain the audience is feeling. "I'm real sorry for all this," he says to a dying friend before making his own last stand. The hopelessness of what's happening becomes absolute, and it makes "The Alamo" go beyond standard history-come-alive fare.

The rest of the cast, big and small parts alike, go from excellent to serviceable. The always good Jason Patric and newcomer Patrick Wilson play the fort's bickering commanders, Jim Bowie and William Travis, respectively. Bowie is another man trapped by his own celebrity, a renowned knife fighter and a more renowned drunk, who spends much of the film dying of consumption and having fevered images of his dead wife. His health serves as a metaphor of the Alamo’s morale, and indeed it's slim chances of survival against Santa Anna. Travis is a young and strict officer who has just left his wife, and he is someone whom the men see as a prissy. He is forced to earn their respect the hard way throughout the siege. Though both he and Bowie are shown to have slaves (and how each of these slaves deals with the Alamo situation gives the film a fascinating if underused subplot), it’s glossed over that the real Bowie and Travis made much of their money off of the slave trade.

Dennis Quaid is outside the Alamo, giving an iron-jawed performance as Texas general Sam Houston. The movie implies, probably quite accurately, that Houston knew from the get-go the Alamo was doomed but its sacrifice would be the emotional victory his men desperately needed. Going to its aid might have at worse been fatal for Texas, and at best would have crippled his own chances of eventually defeating Santa Anna. This eventual, crushing victory is also included in the film, I suppose so the audience does not leave suicidal, and it is likewise a rousing sequence.

Finally, there’s Emilio Eschevarria as Santa Anna. Playing the General over-the-top and a little bit comical, Eschevarria rivals Thornton’s acting. The real Santa Anna, still one of the most despised men in Mexico history, wasn't far from Eschevarria’s egotistical, arrogant portrayal.

"The Alamo" is a powerful film that hopefully will be allowed to breath in it's full, uncut format on DVD. It brought to mind a wonderful novel called "Gates of the Alamo" by Stephen Harrington, a NY Times Bestseller when it was released a few years ago, which is still worth picking up for anyone interested in the topic.

Unless you are made of stone or utterly uninterested in the past, "The Alamo" is the type of film that will haunt you long after you see it, making that famous rallying cry "Remember the Alamo" more than fitting.

Written by: Mike Enright

Reviewers Rating: 9.5
Reader's Rating: 6.36
Reader's Votes: 14

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