AllMovie

A handful of rebels struggle to keep their cause alive against long odds in this western-themed historical drama, inspired by actual events. In 1926, as Mexican President Plutarcho Elias Calles found himself increasingly at odds with the nation's Catholic archdiocese, he began enforcing a number of obscure anti-clerical laws, and as Catholic churches were shuttered throughout Mexico, peasants formed rebel groups called the Christeros to fight against government interference in expression of faith. By 1929, the Christero movement collapsed, but a small number of rebels refused to give up their fight, and in the late 1930s Col. Florencio Estrada (Alejandro Limon) still leads a tiny platoon of rebels who spend their days trying to outrun or outgun Federales determined to bring them in. Estrada's commitment to his beliefs outweighs the practicalities of the amnesty offered to surviving Christeros, and even as a shortage of manpower and materiel makes the fight all the more difficult for them, he and his men will not surrender, even as they become aware of the futility of their cause. Director Matias Meyer cast Los Ultimos Cristeros (aka The Last Christeros) primarily with non-professional actors, many of which are descendents of real-life Christeros rebels.