In theaters one night only, Miranda al Cielo, the story of Saint José Sánchez del Rió, is worth the watch and the inconvenience of reading subtitles.
When the Mexican constitution was revised in 1917, there were the addition of secularist and anticlerical articles whose aim was to undermine the Catholic Church. The Cristero rebellion was instigated as a response to the Calles Laws, as they were called, after President Plutarco Calles, who sought to eliminate the power of the Church.
At the beginning, the Church tried peaceful resistance to its persecution by the government but by 1926 violent skirmishes began to break out and the rebels, called “Cristeros” because they called upon the name of Jesus Christ, began to organize.
It is against this backdrop that we meet 14-year-old, José (Julian Fidalgo Gaytan). As tensions increase in the region where he lives, his two older brothers convince their father, Macario (Marco Orozco), to give them his blessing to join the Cristeros. They want to fight for their faith and the right to practice as Catholics. Maria (Estela Cano), their mother, is proud of their conviction but sorrowful that they are leaving to join the armed conflict.
José, together with some friends, witnesses the hanging of a man who helped the Cristeros at the hands of the government. Both José and his father have been arguing with Rafael (Luis Xavier Cavazos), Macario’s good friend and José’s godfather, about his involvement as an officer of the government, compliant with the violence against the Cristeros.
When Trino (Alexis Orozco), José’s best friend, decides to join the Cristeros, José wants to go as well. He tells his distressed mother, “Never before has it been so easy to reach heaven.” Heaven was all José desired and he was more than ready to give his life defending his faith in Christ.
When José joined the Cristeros, he was made the bugler and flag-bearer. When asked where his gun was, he pulled his rosary out of his pocket. After being captured, he was sent back to his home town of Sahuayo and jailed in the church which had been taken over by the government’s soldiers. He tells his fellow captive, “This is where I was baptized.”
While Mirando al Cielo as a film leaves the viewer wanting to know more, the story of Saint José needs to be told and known in the Catholic world. In a time when the Catholic Church often finds itself on the unpopular side of a variety of society’s issues, in a time when the Church finds itself challenged on how to pass on the faith to young parents and children, in a time when there is a waning belief in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, comes the story of a young boy whose faith meant so much to him that he endured torture and death for his faith in Jesus Christ.
As the Church lives these years of the Eucharistic Revival, let us invoke the intercession of Saint José Sánchez del Rió, who never failed to proclaim, even when faced with death, “Viva Cristo Rey!” Long live Christ the King!
In theaters one night only, April 18, 2023. Click here for ticket information.
