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On March 6, 1936, it took about 90 minutes for the 5,000-strong forces of Mexican dictator Santa Anna to overwhelm the few hundred defenders of Texas independence that had made a stand at the Alamo. Though the Texans were wholly obliterated, the victory that day was ultimately theirs; the massacre galvanized Texans and demoralized the Mexican army, and as symbolic rallying cry it was essential to the ultimate defeat of Santa Anna. Despite lasting only an hour, this installment of
The Real West documentary series gives a fine overview of the events. Though told primarily from the perspective of the Texans, a certain balance is maintained. There is mythologizing, but fortunately no attempts to inflate the heroism of such legendary figures as James Bowie or Davy Crockett (who, we are informed, possibly surrendered only to be killed by the Mexican victors), slight the fact that one of the "freedoms" being sought by Texas was the right to own slaves, or to overstate the importance of the site of the battle. It is made perfectly clear that the Alamo, built by the Spaniards in the 18th century to defend against Comanche raiding parties, was poorly designed as a military fort, and located in a position wholly irrelevant to the ongoing struggles between Texas and Mexico. None of which mattered when both sides realized what had transpired that day. Even the professional historians interviewed for this program choke with emotion when recalling the uselessness of the sacrifice, the greater good that resulted. One recalls the aggrieved school parent's grim reminder of who won at the Alamo in John Sayles's
Lone Star; some battles, regardless of the outcome, never really end.
--Bruce Reid
