For the majority of the film going public, it has been a fair while we’ve heard from John Sayles (City of Hope, Lone Star). Yet his independent films Silver City and Honeydripper have earned him acclaim and critical applause, including the National Board of Review naming Honeydripper one of the Top 10 Independent Films of 2007. Now he’s back with Amigo, and ambitious looking film about the Philippine-American War that ran from 1899 to 1902. Starring regular collaborator Chris Cooper, the trailer is below.
AMIGO, the 17th feature film from Academy Award-nominated writer-director John Sayles, stars legendary Filipino actor Joel Torre as Rafael, a village mayor caught in the murderous crossfire of the Philippine-American War. When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer (Chris Cooper) to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. But Rafael’s brother (Ronnie Lazaro) is the head of the local guerillas, and considers anyone who cooperates with the Americans to be a traitor. Rafael quickly finds himself forced to make the impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by ordinary civilians in an occupied country. A powerful drama of friendship, betrayal, romance and heartbreaking violence, AMIGO is a page torn from the untold history of the Philippines, and a mirror of today’s unresolvable conflicts.
Amigo is due out in US theatres on August 19th, 2011. It does not currently have an Australian release date.
The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and Sarah @swardplay. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits.
