01
The Castle
Why this pick
A proudly ordinary family and their neighbours confront powerful development interests with homespun legal resistance, deadpan comedy and the same deep faith in place and community.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1988 1h 57m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Milagro Beanfield War
ComedyDrama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
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SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Milagro Beanfield War, try these.
01
02
Matewan
Why this pick
Like Milagro, it builds tension around an exploited working community facing outside power, but with a more urgent, historically grounded style and richly observed local alliances.
03
Salt of the Earth
Why this pick
This New Mexico labour drama shares Milagro’s Southwestern landscape, grassroots defiance and conviction that collective action can challenge entrenched economic power.
04
A Day Without a Mexican
Why this pick
Its broad, playful satire exposes the social and economic forces that overlook essential local people, balancing political bite with a buoyant communal spirit.
05
The River
Why this pick
It trades magical whimsy for earnest farm-family drama, yet its struggle over land, debt and agricultural survival carries the same sympathy for people pushed aside by larger interests.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Nearly 500 residents of the agricultural community of Milagro in the mountains of northern New Mexico face a crisis when politicians and business interests make a backroom deal to usurp the town's water in order to pave the way for a land buy-out. Due to the new laws, Joe Mondragon is unable to make a living farming because he is not allowed to divert water from an irrigation ditch that runs past his property.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
James Gammon
Horsethief Shorty
Daniel Stern
Herbie Platt
Chick Vennera
Joe Mondragon
Melanie Griffith
Flossie Devine
John Heard
Charlie Bloom
Christopher Walken
Kyril Montana
Richard Bradford
Ladd Devine
Julie Carmen
Nancy Mondragon