History Film / Amigo

* NerdGlasses: Signal Corpsman Zeke wears round, metal-rimmed glasses. He's slight in build, and (per his position) mans the garrison's communications.

The {{Philippines}}, 1900. Joel Torre stars as Rafael Dacanay, the chief of the tiny Filipino barrio of San Isidro, which is just beginning to enjoy its newfound independence from Spain (as evidenced by chained soldiers and the locked-up friar, Padre Hidalgo), when out of nowhere the Americans burst in, bringing the Philippine-American War into this small corner of Luzon. This puts him between a rock and a hard place, as the Americans obviously expect him to cooperate, but his own brother is in the Revolutionary Army under General Emilio Aguinaldo, now forced to fight off a wholly new coloniser in this first, new, brutal and forgotten chapter in the history of American imperial power. The rest of his family is similarly divided by their loyalties. Both sides are armed, dangerous, and will not hesitate to shoot anyone presumed to be working for the other side. Whose side is he to choose?

* InfantImmortality: Sadly averted when a little girl in the town is felled by a bullet. A poignant funeral scene with all its Hispanic Catholic pomposity—featuring children chanting Latin orations and older folk in lacy finery—follows.

[[caption-width-right:300:Although for many Filipinos, the heart forgot too.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The U.S. troops throw racial slurs around with abandon, calling the Filipinos "goo-goos" (which later evolved into the term "gook", used against the Koreans in the [[TheFifties Korean War]], and still later against the [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnamese]]). The term "goo-goo", in fact, was first recorded used during this war.

The {{Philippines}}, 1900. Joel Torre stars as Rafael Dacanay, the chief of the tiny Filipino barrio of San Isidro, which is just beginning to enjoy its newfound independence from Spain (as evidenced by chained soldiers and the locked-up friar, Padre Hidalgo), when out of nowhere the Americans burst in, bringing the Philippine-American War into this small corner of Luzon. This puts him between a rock and a hard place, as the Americans obviously expect him to collaborate, but his own brother is in the Revolutionary Army under General Emilio Aguinaldo, now forced to fight off a wholly new coloniser in this first, new, brutal and forgotten chapter in the history of American imperial power. The rest of his family is similarly divided by their loyalties. Both sides are armed, dangerous, and will not hesitate to shoot anyone presumed to be working for the other side. Whose side is he to choose?

The {{Philippines}}, 1900. Joel Torre stars as Rafael Dacanay, the chief of the tiny Filipino barrio of San Isidro, which is just beginning to enjoy its newfound independence from Spain (as evidenced by chained soldiers and the locked-up friar, Padre Hidalgo), when out of nowhere the Americans burst in, bringing the Philippine-American War into this small corner of Luzon. This puts him between a rock and a hard place, as his own brother is in the Revolutionary Army under General Emilio Aguinaldo, now forced to fight off a wholly new coloniser in this first, new, brutal and forgotten chapter in the history of American imperial power. The rest of his family is similarly divided by their loyalties. Both sides are armed, dangerous, and will not hesitate to shoot anyone presumed to be working for the other side. Whose side is he to choose?

Notable for being one of the very few fictional works made by Americans about their colonial empire, in stark contrast to the abundance of British colonial fiction and literature about TheBritishEmpire, producing such luminaries as Creator/RudyardKipling, Creator/GeorgeOrwell, Creator/EMForster, and so on. ''The Real Glory'', made back in ''1939'', is one of the few other known American films about the war.

Contrast an even more obscure play by George Ade, ''Theatre/TheSultanOfSulu'', which deals with a related conflict—the U.S. invasion of Sulu, off the coast of the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao, and a precursor to what is called the Moro Rebellion—but which, as a [[TheMusical musical]], is treated more comically. [[note]]Partly this may be because the play was finished in 1902—the worst atrocities of the war, either in the Catholic Philippine regions or in Muslim-majority Mindanao, were yet to happen, let alone reach the attention of would-be ardent anti-imperialists, like Creator/MarkTwain, who later did write scathing indictments of American atrocities in Mindanao, most notably the Battles of Bud Dajo and Bud Bagsak (a.k.a. the Moro Crater Massacre) of 1906.[[/note]]

* AuthorTract: There's a slight heavyhandedness to the film's message: indie director John Sayles has often made movies about the downtrodden and oppressed—menial labourers, immigrants, minorities, and now would-be colonial subjects, and ''Amigo'' pretty clearly shows how WarIsHell and how U.S. imperialism effectively aborted a new nation. To his credit, reviewers didn't see ''Amigo'' as ''too'' preachy, though.

* MortonsFork: Rafael Dacanay's situation. Poor sod must either bend the knee to the Americans, and get charged with treason and shot by his insurrecto relatives—or join LaResistance, and get charged with banditry and shot by the Americans.

Contrast an even more obscure play by George Ade, ''Theatre/TheSultanOfSulu'', which deals with a related conflict—the U.S. invasion of Sulu, part of the southern Philippine islands around Mindanao, and a precursor to the Moro Rebellion—but which, as a [[TheMusical musical]], is treated more comically.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Quite literally. [[spoiler: The rebels cut down a telegraph line ''just as the news of Aguinaldo's capture is being relayed to San Isidro''. Rafael ends up hanging effectively [[NiceJobBreakingItHero because of them]].]]

* MortonsFork: Rafael Dacanay's situation. Poor sod must either bend the knee to the Americans and gets charged with treason and shot by his insurrecto relatives—or join LaResistance and gets charged with banditry and shot by the Americans.

* MortonsFork: Rafael Dacanay's situation. Poor sod either bends the knee to the Americans and gets charged with treason and shot by his insurrecto relatives—or he joins LaResistance and gets charged with banditry and shot by the Americans.

* SinisterMinister: Padre Hidalgo, the local Spanish friar, who wields more de facto power than even Rafael Dacanay does as village chief, even when the Spanish government ''per se'' has already surrendered to the Filipinos. As a polyglot who knows both Tagalog and English in addition to his native Spanish, Padre Hidalgo is thus indispensable to the American occupying force as an interpreter. The enormous latitude of such indirect friar power over the natives is TruthInTelevision.

''Amigo'', released in 2010, is an indie, joint American/Filipino production, directed by notable small-time indie filmmaker John Sayles, and starring the likes of Creator/ChrisCooper on the American side, as well as a rather star-studded cast on the Filipino side, including such luminaries as Joel Torre, Rio Locsin, Ronnie Lazaro & Pen Medina, amongst others.

The {{Philippines}}, 1900. Joel Torre stars as Rafael Dacanay, the chief of the tiny Filipino barrio of San Isidro, which is just beginning to enjoy its newfound independence from Spain (as evidenced by chained soldiers and the locked-up friar, Padre Hidalgo), when out of nowhere the Americans burst in, bringing the Philippine-American War into this small Luzon town. This puts him between a rock and a hard place as his own brother is in the Revolutionary Army under General Emilio Aguinaldo, now forced to fight off a wholly new coloniser in this first, new, brutal and forgotten chapter in the history of American imperial power. Both sides are armed, dangerous, and will not hesitate to shoot anyone presumed to be working for the other side. Whose side is he to choose?

Notable for being one of the very few fictional works made by Americans about their colonial empire, in stark contrast to the abundance of British colonial fiction and literature about TheBritishEmpire, producing such luminaries as Creator/RudyardKipling, Creator/GeorgeOrwell, Creator/EMForster, and so on. ''The Real Glory'', made ''back in 1939'', is one of the few other known American films about the war.

* SinisterMinister: Padre Hidalgo, the local Spanish friar, who wields more de facto power than even Rafael Dacanay does as village chief, even when the Spanish government ''per se'' has already surrendered to the Filipinos. The enormous latitude of indirect friar power over the natives is TruthInTelevision.

* ItsAlwaysSunnyAtFunerals: The child's funeral around the halfway mark of the movie is carried out in broad daylight, soon before the arrival of the rains. There is also the parallel funeral of a downed insurgent, presided over by rebel leader Simón, who was trained in a seminary but has grown to hate the friars' brand of Catholicism.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Lt. Compton, assigned to form the garrison at San Isidro, who is at least levelheaded, not quite raring to crush the rebels like his superior, Col. Hardacre.

* ItsAlwaysSunnyAtFunerals: The child's funeral around the halfway mark of the movie is carried out in broad daylight, soon before the arrival of the rains. There is also the parallel funeral of a downed insurgent, presided over by rebel leader Simón, who was trained in a seminary but has grown to hate the friars' brand of Catholicism.

* MightyWhiteyMellowYellow: The Filipinos seem to be a frequent target of this. One of the Americans stationed in San Isidro falls for a native girl, even if neither can understand what the other's saying. One of the disgraced Spanish soldiers is also taking a native woman home with him to Spain.

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies]]
* ItsAlwaysSunnyAtFunerals: The child's funeral around the halfway mark of the movie is carried out in broad daylight, soon before the arrival of the rains. There is also the parallel funeral of a downed insurgent, presided over by rebel leader Simón, who was trained in a seminary but has grown to hate the friars' brand of Catholicism.

* WarIsHell: This proto-Vietnam riceland/jungle setting proves intensely discomforting to the Americans, what with mud, mosquitoes, alternating humid sun and torrential rainfall, and the quick spread of tropical diseases.

* OccupiersOutOfOurCountry: Precisely what the Filipino Revolutionaries are fighting for. They just finished kicking the Spaniards out—they're not about to let the Americans away their hard-won independence, ''again''!

* LaResistance: The Revolutionary Army of the First Philippine Republic, for whom Rafael's brother, Simón, is fighting.

* TheEmpire: The United States. No matter how much it denies the label, this was very much the role it was playing against the ragtag Filipino insurgency—and would continue to play [[ForegoneConclusion over the next century, by some metrics until ThePresentDay]].

* LaResistance: The Revolutionary Army of the First Philippine Republic, for whom Rafael's brother, Simón, is fighting.

* LaResistance: The Revolutionary Army of the First Philippine Republic, for whom Rafael's brother, Simón, is fighting.

* OccupiersOutOfOurCountry: Precisely what the Filipino rebels are fighting for. They just finished kicking the Spaniards out—they're not about to let the Americans away their hard-won independence, ''again''!

* LaResistance: The Revolutionary Army of the First Philippine Republic, for whom Rafael's brother, Simón, is fighting.

* SinisterMinister: Padre Hidalgo, the local Spanish friar, who wields more de facto power than even Rafael Dacanay does as village chief, even when the Spanish government ''per se'' has already surrendered to the Filipinos.