The Milagro Beanfield War

The Milagro Beanfield War was released in 1988 and is based on the novel written by John Nichols. This is an American comedy-drama film that was filmed in Truchas, New Mexico. The town of Milagro is both rural and fictional, with a population of 426. The people in Milagro are mostly Hispanic Catholics. A town that is being run out by white, wealthy corporate developers slowly, but surely, starts to come together to fight back and save their town and culture. It starts off with showing the viewers around the town, then quickly jumps to the main conflict: the bean field. Joe, the main character, kicks the water gate out of frustration, breaks it, and water starts to gush down onto the field. This new irrigation system begins the thought of the…

According to what I have seen of the Milagro Bean War film thus far, I believe that the main/core issue present throughout the film is land ownership. Even though water diversion is the conflict that is depicted in a more direct manner, and which is affecting character Jose Mondragon, the water diversion is an effect of a deeper issue, that of land ownership. For sakes of clarity, it can be said that both issues are crucial to the plot of the film. For instance, land ownership affects both…