Movie: Looking at Heaven: The Life of St. José Sánchez Del Rio

I’m not much of a movie goer, but when my Adult Faith Formation class at my parish decided to skip our regular Monday meeting for a movie I didn’t have much of a choice.  So we canceled the class a couple of Mondays ago to attend a movie at one of our local theaters dedicated to Catholic Movie Night.  I am not sure if Catholic Movie Night is a once per month event or ad hoc, but they scheduled a Catholic movie for this particular Monday night, and it wouldn’t be in the theaters otherwise.  The move was Looking at Heaven: The Life of St. José Sánchez Del Rio, the life of a teenage Catholic martyr during the The Cristero War in Mexico during the 1920s. 

The Cristero War was a rebellion/civil war within Mexico during a time the Civil Government tried to squash and eliminate the Catholic faith.  Churches were closed.  Priests were hunted down and killed if caught celebrating Mass.  The rebellion became known as the Cristo Rey (Christ the King) movement and their exclamation was Viva Cristo Rey!  A more comprehensive movie of the rebellion was produced in 2012 titled For Greater Glory.  

Looking at Heaven has a narrower story of a young man, José Sánchez del Río, who at the age of fourteen joined the Cristero movement, was captured, tortured, and martyred for his faith.  The movie is in Spanish with subtitles, but I will say I had no problem following the dialogue.  José came from a devout Catholic family.  His two older brothers had already joined the Cristero soldiers, and when at the point that José could no longer tolerate the persecution toward Catholics joined himself.  The priest who led the Catholic group to the movie theater said the movie depiction was very true to the known facts.

Let’s go through a couple of video clips here.  First there is a biographical clip on the life of José Sánchez del Río.

 

Next is the Trailer for the movie.

 

Finally if you want to see the whole two hour movie, it’s currently available on YouTube. 

 

Edit: It was taken down.  Look for it every so often, you may find it back.

The movie is beautifully produced.  The musical score was so perfect.  The acting outstanding, especially given the young actors.  The cinematography was beautiful, with interesting close in scenes and lavish outdoor vistas.  And finally the story was wonderfully rendered.  It was a beautiful, heart moving movie.  I highly recommend it.  Five stars!