as Ambassador Dwight Morrow Bruce McGill as President Calvin Coolidge Adrian Alonso as Lalo Joaquín Garrido as Minister Amaro Karyme Lozano as Doña María del Río Alma Martinez as Señora Vargas Andrés Montiel as Florentino Vargas Roger Cudney as Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg Production The film is based on The Cristero Rebellion, the 1976 chronicle of the war written by French historian Jean Meyer who resides in Mexico. Filming started in May 2010 and shot for 12 weeks. Production took place between 31 May 2010 and 16 August 2010. The film was shot in Mexico City, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala and Puebla. Including an ecological reserve, Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete, Mexico. At one point the director recreates a famous photograph of the bodies of executed Cristeros hanging from telephone poles, but they are seen in the film from a moving train. Release The film had a robust opening in Mexico taking first place in gross admissions at the box office, and second in total receipts, behind Titanic 3D. As of May 11, 2012, it had grossed $2.2 million. Reception The film has received negative reviews, noting its performances and ambition but criticizing the screenplay and presentation of events. As of 2021, it holds a 35% rating on Metacritic based on 17 critics, and a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 49 reviews. The latter site states: "It has laudable aspirations, but For Greater Glory ultimately fails to fulfill its goals due to an overstuffed script, thinly written characters, and an overly simplified dramatization of historical events." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two and half stars, and concluded that "it is well-made, yes, but has such pro-Catholic tunnel vision I began to question its view of events." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film as being 'melodramatic' and 'overlong', but noted that 'Despite its profusion of violent battle sequences, the film is most effective in its quieter moments, such as the scenes in which Calles warily negotiates with the American ambassador (Bruce Greenwood) who is mainly intent on preserving U.S. oil interests'. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club panned the film and called it, 'an endless, plodding educational tool of unusual bluntness and dull force, a blood-soaked primer on intolerance and religious persecution that would benefit from even the faintest tinge of moral ambiguity