Latino and Latin-American Films

"Short Eyes"
by Manuel Rivera Jr.

New Film based on the life of poet/dramatist Miguel Piñero from the director of "EL Super"

Miguel Piñero's play is a drama portraying life in a society of incarceration. This mirrors that of the outside world, with the same ideals of social acceptance, values and morals. Although both worlds are parallel, these same ideals are stricter inside the famed "Tombs" of New York City.

In the play, we see a man's word carries weight, where he just cannot go around making promises for the mere sake of it without expecting any repercussions. As Omar honestly explains to Mr. Nett when asked to promise to quit fighting: "I can't give my word on something like that...my word is my bond. Man in prison ain't got nothing but his word, and he's got to be careful who and how and for what he give it for."

The judgement and execution of Clark Davis, the alleged child rapist (and also the only middle class white prisoner ), by his fellow inmates might seem swift and brutal. However, this very group of his peers, this community that carries out his sentence, stems from the community of the outside world.

The Characters in the play are Black, Puerto Rican and White. All have their own way of getting along with one another within their own society and of finding a means to escape insanity and mental defeat, whether through love, religion, violence, drugs or any number of other devices. "Short Eyes" is not just a play about life in prison, but also one about life itself.

"El Norte"
by Emilia Vasquez

El Norte is a film about the difficulties experienced in countries with autocratic governments, the dangers encountered when individuals attempt to flee such a country, and the hardships faced as illegal-immigrants in the United States. Even though El Norte accurately depicts the grim reality of life as an illegal-immigrant, it also introduces elements of magical realism in its depiction of native life and customs. This movie presents a scenario that forces its protagonists, Rosa and Enrique, into a liminal existence. On the one hand, El Norte condemns that government which forces its people to flee its borders, yet it paints native life in that country as having an innocent unsoiled quality. The movie clearly portrays the discriminations and disenfranchisement that illegal-immigrants face in this country, but at the same time offers no alternative to the persecuted persons that flee to this country. Rosa and Enrique have no home to return to and they will never belong in this land.

The film opens with a breathtaking shot of a Guatemalan mountain range and brown hands busily gathering the bright-red, ripened berries from the coffee trees. It seems at first glance, a peaceful, if rustic, scene, but the tension of the bean gatherers is soon felt in the exchanged glances between themselves and a blatantly armed overseer. The tension mounts as the film moves from the family home where the peasant mother and her daughter, Rosa, are making the tortillas for the evening supper to the room in which the overseer is sitting across a table upon which numerous colored bills lay. As Rosa and her mother await the return of the father and son from the coffee fields, the overseer is seen bribing another peasant into divulging the location of that evening's secret meeting between the peasants. The overseer is intent on thwarting the plans of the protagonists' father, Arturo Xuncax, who is the leader of an impending revolt intended to reclaim the peasant's stolen land. There are moments of levity that ease this tension, which occur during the family's supper conversation. The godparents are present at the family supper and it is the godmother's golden tales of life in 'El Norte' that bring smiles to everyone. Her self-proclaimed knowledge of life in 'El Norte' is based on 10 years of reading Good Housekeeping. The most amusing detail she utters is that even the poorest person in the United States can pee in style on fancy indoor toilets, and all troubles are eased with a simple flush of the toilet.

There is much foreshadowing that indicates that Arturo Xuncax is not going to survive this night. His wife appears nervous, and several times questions his decision to "go out" later that evening. As Arturo gets ready to leave the home, he eyes his machete, but decides against taking it. The son follows his father and stops him on his way to tell him that the mother is afraid. Arturo attempts to reassure the son, but when Enrique confesses his own fear to his father, Arturo tells his son that from the beginning of time the rich man has seen the campesino as only a pair of strong arms. He tells Enrique that the campesino must fight to show the rich man that peasants are more than strong arms; that they also possess hearts and souls. Soon, his father tells Enrique, soon the time will come when you will have to be a man and can accompany me. This discourse between Arturo and Enrique appears to be a father's last words of wisdom to his son.

The first climax of the movie quickly follows Arturo's speech to his son. That night during the peasants' meeting there is an ambush in which the peasants are killed. What is disturbing is that it is government agents dressed in military gear who conduct the ambush. It is clear that Enrique and Rosa live in a country in which the government takes harsh and unjust action against its citizens.

The scenes following the ambush are ones that seem to reflect the native customs and beliefs of the campesinos. It is in these scenes that a sense of magical realism is introduced. For most of the movie the campesinos are garbed in their 'manta' (plain white broadcloth made of cotton that is inexpensive and traditionally used by indigenous people in Latin America) suits, and it appears to me that the white manta is used to symbolize the purity and simplicity of the campesino. In the funeral scene, Arturo's casket is covered with large, white Calla lilies, which seem to represent the purity of the soul that is being buried. Rosa realizes that her mother's abduction at the hands of the government is a punishment for Arturo's 'transgressions, but the finality of this action dawns on her when she enters the family home only to discover thousands of small white moths emerging from the dish that holds her mother's beloved silver necklaces. It is as if the soft, fluttering flight of those myriad moths symbolizes the last light of her mother's spirit. When Rosa takes a walk through the woods seemingly in search of some sign from her brother, Enrique, handfuls of fresh cut gardenias appear on the ground heralding her brother's appearance through the woods. Even though all these events give the impression of some fantastical, supernatural mystery at work, the casual manner in which they occur and the unquestioning acceptance of these by Rosa and Enrique lends credibility and realism to these happenings.

Once Rosa and Enrique decide that they must flee Guatemala in order to stay alive, the grim reality of life as an 'indocumentado' begins to take hold. At times in the movie, it seems like Rosa and Enrique have unbelievable strokes of good luck, but those pieces of good luck are always tempered by a cold dose of reality that seems to strip their naivete bit by bit. Once they cross over the Guatemalan/Mexican border, they meet up with a truck driver who agrees to take them as far as Oaxaca, and who gives them a lesson in Mexican geography. It does seem that their trip through Mexico happens all too easily, but that could be explained by the time constraints in film.

When Rosa and Enrique arrive in Tijuana, 'coyotes' besiege them as well as all the other passengers on the bus. What is shocking about this scene is that I always imagined that the transporting of humans across borders was a covert activity done secretly and furtively. Even with the slew of 'coyotes' available to Rosa and Enrique, it is difficult to know whom or what to trust, and again things seem to go rather smoothly for this brother and sister who are just recently 'off the bus'. Rosa and Enrique are fortunate enough to escape the first guy who promises to help them cross over, but whose true intentions are to rob them. They are lucky enough to be able to speak their native dialect which allows them to discuss the pros and cons of answering the immigration officers' questions--questions that are intended to detect their true origin. They are even luckier to find the 'coyote' that their friend and neighbor in Guatemala so highly recommended.

The scenes of Rosa and Enrique's crossing of the Mexican/American border are horrifying and frightening. I felt that the film truly conveyed the sensation of fear and claustrophobia of being trapped in an interminable tunnel, and the rats' attack was vivid, relentless and unendurable. Once in America, however, I did believe things would get better for Rosa and Enrique. They were both motivated to work and learn English, and for a brief moment it seemed as though their situation was on an upward swing. Enrique was being promoted to waiter assistant and Rosa had narrowly escaped La Migra and had a job as a domestic in a wealthy American home. Both were engaged in establishing friendships, learning English and improving their small apartment, but they were still living on the fringes and struggling to adapt to this new lifestyle.

Throughout the movie, Rosa was always portrayed as the stronger, less idealistic and more resilient sibling; however, her sensitive nature begins to appear when she starts to fall ill. Rosa begins to have hallucinations about her mother and father, and the appearance of these scenes is much like the scenes in Guatemala. The hallucinations or dreams are filled with mystical symbolism. In one dream scene, Rosa's mother appears to her making tortillas by hand and cooking them on Rosa's electric stove. Later, Rosa's father appears to her with a beautiful basket of fresh cut flowers, but as Rosa looks into the basket she sees a dead fish with its red eye balefully looking at her. It is as if her parents were calling her to the spirit world.

Before Rosa dies she talks to Enrique, and she questions the purpose of their trip to 'El Norte'. She tells Enrique that she feels they have no home, not one that they could ever truly return to. She tells him that in Guatemala they are not safe, and Mexico is full of poverty. She asks Enrique if he believes that they are free, here in the United States, the golden 'Norte', but it is a rhetorical question because they both know that their life in 'El Norte' has nothing to do with freedom. In the last scenes of the movie Enrique is again in line with all the other 'indocumentados' waiting for someone to choose him for a day's work. A truck pulls up and a man starts calling for men with strong arms. Enrique's face shows the struggle within himself-is that all he is? A pair of strong-arms? Enrique calls out to the man, "take me I have strong arms, I have strong arms!" As Enrique is shoveling a trench on a construction site, images of his family come to him. He sees Rosa standing with her serape over her head on the hill of the village cemetery, and Rosa has a small, sad smile on her lips. It is as if Enrique has come full circle. As a campesino, his value lay in his strong arms, and as an illegal-immigrant in the United States, his survival depends on the strength of his arms. Either way he is disposable and his life is merely incidental.

In the end, I believe that the film El Norte challenges many people's belief that life in the United States is better that in other countries, but at the same time the premise upon which Rosa and Enrique were forced to leave their country presents a no-win situation. It is a dark tale of complete and total disenfranchisement; however, the questions are never answered. Where do the Rosas and Enriques of this world belong? How do they get to live a life of dignity and value?

"El Super"
by Emilia Vasquez

El Super is a movie about an exiled Cuban family scratching out an existence in New York City, as they spend their days reminiscing about the golden, pre-Castro days in Cuba while agonizing and lamenting over the coldness of the city, its inhabitants and its snowy, gray New York winters. It is a story about the combined struggle and resistance to adapt to a new culture, climate, and lifestyle and of the ever-present nostalgia for a past and a land that can no longer be reclaimed.

The main character, Roberto, also known as the Super, is the keeper (superintendent) of a large, gray, concrete New York City apartment building, who agonizes over the daily demands of his job. He is the stair cleaner, window replacer, snow shoveler, and all around "recogedor de mierda" for the ungrateful and demanding tenants who live in his building. The tenants notwithstanding, Roberto's chief albatross is the unreliable boiler located in the building's dark basement. The boiler represents Roberto's own personal inferno and his struggle to keep his fire 'stoked' in this new environment. In one of the movie's scenes Roberto stares straight into the boiler and exclaims "Goddamit, it's hell!" Life as a super seems as unbearable as the seemingly endless winter of this new country.

To Roberto, life in New York City is life "in the land of cold and work". Nothing about New York City can ever replace the idyllic paradise of Cuba, yet it is evident that Roberto and his wife Aurelia assiduously work to ensure that their life in this city approximates, as closely as possible, the life they led in Cuba. Roberto and Aurelia surround themselves with other Cuban exiles, seek out Spanish-speaking, Cuban doctors and avoid speaking or interacting in any language but Spanish. It is clear that Roberto and Aurelia are less interested in becoming part of the American "melting pot" than in managing to live in a relatively homogeneous community of Cuban exiles and other Caribbean-American individuals who share their language and culture.

Although other Caribbean-Americans are included in the circle of friends, it is clear that to Roberto, Aurelia and the rest of the Cubans that it is certainly preferable to be Cuban. There is a clear sense of nationalism in this movie and never more clear than in the scene in which the City Inspector pays a visit to Roberto's building. In this scene, the Inspector asks Roberto if he is Puertorican and Roberto hastily corrects him "no, no Cuban!" Of course, Roberto needs a translator's assistance in communicating with the Inspector, which demonstrates that after 10 years of living in New York City, learning English and becoming adept in communicating with the local bureaucracy was never on the agenda. It is far more important to maintain their 'Cuban identity'.

Social occasions for Roberto and Aurelia revolve around reminiscing about the good old days in Cuba, discussing Castro's disgusting Communist doctrine, and dreaming of new and improved plots to upset the Castro regime in Cuba. Even a trip to the doctor's is an opportunity to rub shoulders with the elite Cuban element in New York City, and to talk about "La Havana vieja" as is deridingly pointed out by Aurielita, the second generation daughter of Roberto and Aurelia, who much to her parents chagrin, is thoroughly Americanized.

While Roberto, Aurelia and their friends cling to the remnants of their native customs, beliefs and values, the second generation wholeheartedly embraces life in the United States. Aurielita engages in premarital sex and drug experimentation, while La China's children speak accentless English and demand to be allowed to play in the snow. The movie clearly depicts the second-generation's dismissal of their parent's aversion to the cold, snow, liberal views and the city in general.

In the movie, after Roberto deals with some very unpleasant news he is seen walking the city; in the background, the song "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees accompanies his movements. The irony in the choice of soundtrack is that Roberto is not some young teenage boy, whose whole life is ahead of him and will be happily improved by dancing through the city's discos, but that he is a middle-aged man who is facing the prospect that New York City no longer holds any promise for a decent life for himself and his family. He decides to move his family to Miami to "live out the rest of his days in sunshine", because he has grown weary of fighting to survive in 'cold' New York.

In the end it is not clear if Roberto ends up moving his family to Miami; however, just the decision to do so brings about a change in Roberto's attitude. Suddenly, he does not seem to be as gray and despondent as the city's winter skies. Almost miraculously, Roberto begins to see the beauty of the snow. During the family's farewell party, Roberto leaves and goes to the dark basement room that is lit up by the fire in the boiler. He stares at the boiler and begins to laugh.

It is up to the viewer to surmise what Roberto was laughing at or what thoughts were going through his head. To me, Roberto finally realized that there was no escaping his exile. That his exile would be the same whether it was in the company of the boiler in the basement of a New York City apartment building or in a Miami factory. The Cuba he left behind would only exist within himself and he was destined to live in this duality.