General Santa Anna

A rumination on the career of the Mexican leader who won the battle for the Alamo but lost the war for Texan independence (along with a good deal of his country's territory, which ultimately became the southwestern United States), General Santa Anna is structured as a series of episodes and conversations--some apparently real, others hallucinatory or fabricated--over the last three days of the general's life. Unfortunately, from a dramatic perspective the result is pretty drab, as the film is mostly talk rather than action--and the talk demands considerable background knowledge on Santa Anna's career for the details to be fully appreciated. Alejandro Parodi is actually quite good in the title role, embodying the same mixture of emotions that Philip Baker Hall brought to the similarly distraught Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's equally theatrical but far superior Secret Honor. Too, the effects that make it appear he's an amputee--the loss of a leg in the service of his country becomes a constant reminder of what he's sacrificed for a free Mexico--are well-done. But the admirable intent of reassessing the career of a Mexican hero far exceeds the actual accomplishment: this is a slow, static film that succeeds neither as drama nor as history lesson. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)