EL NORTE
US, 1983, 140 minutes, Colour.
Ernesto Gomez Cruz, David Villilpando, Zaida Silvia Guttierez.
Directed by Gregory Nava.
Illegal immigration into the United States from Central America has continued to be a problem from the time this film was made in the early 1980s till the first decade of the 21st century – and seems to show no signs of abating. Many films have been made on the topic. Good examples include The Three Burials of Melchiades Estrada, Fast Food Nation, Bordertown. (Bordertown was written and directed by Gregory Nava, director of El Norte; it screened to derision at the Berlin film festival where critics were more concerned about Jennifer Lopez’s makeup than the severe social problems that it highlighted.)
This film is set in Guatemala. Indian peasants, Mayans, have been exploited as manual labourers and are trying to improve their lives. However, the Guatemalan army attacks them, destroys the village, destroys families. Two teenagers who have escaped the massacre decide that they will try to journey to El Norte, the north, Los Angeles. They do receive some help from their friends, an immigrant gives them advice about how to travel through Mexico. The film is their journey from Guatemala through Mexico and across the border.
The film also highlights the difficulties in establishing a life for Hispanic people at that period in the United States. Los Angeles is a different world. They are young, they have little education, they are illegal. Nevertheless, they have great resolution in order to survive.
El Norte is very much a mirror story of thousands of migrants from Central America to the United States.
Writer-director Gregory Nava also made a number of interesting films including in the 1990s Mi Familia, My Family, as well as Selena which brought Jennifer Lopez to American attention.
1. An interesting film? Entertaining? Challenging? The acclaim for the film? (Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay)
2. Strengths of independent filmmaking, qualities of imagination, small resources? Quality product? For what audience? American, non-Americans? The basic human message? Social and political message?
3. The American viewpoint of Latin America? Political upheaval? Poverty? American security? Racism? Employment questions? The people, the environments? Third World economies, military regimes, human rights and abuses? The contrast with American affluence? Dream and reality?
4. The village in Guatemala: the details of life, day by day? The family? The military oppression? The farmers and the miners? The military, the massacres? The parents killed? The repercussions for the villagers? The young people having to leave? American magazines, pictures, music, rumours about El Norte? The emotional response to the people of the village?
5. The structure of the film in three acts: the focus on Guatemala, Mexico, Los Angeles? Providing for understanding and emotional sympathy?
6. Enrique and Rosa - in the village, their place in the family, brother and sister, bonds? As man and woman? Lack of opportunity in Guatemala? The decision to leave? The impact of home life, poverty, work, the death of their father, the imprisonment of their mother, the grief of the funeral? Their plans and advice given? Rosa and Josefita and her giving her godchild the money? The dangers in leaving? The personal hurt, separation from home, land? Religious motivation? A vision of a free and affluent North, magazine photos, gadgets and consumerism?
7. The experience in Mexico, the travel by bus, disguise, pretending to be Mexicans, language difficulties, stereotype answers, holding onto money? The experience of being away from home? Travelling further away from home?
8. Tijuana and the contacts, the poverty, the crooked deals, the Coyotes, their plans? The thieves and their exploitation of the innocent Guatemalans? Violence? The finding of Jaime? His loyalty, plan?
9. The experience of the border, the guards, the American attitude towards illegal border-crossers, the helicopters, the security guards? The tunnel and the sewers? The visual impact of the long dragging of themselves through the sewer? The dark, the rats. the terror, having to go on? The arrival in America and the contrast of the starry vision of the lights on San Diego with the police helicopters? On the border with hope?
10. The move to Los Angeles? The plight of illegal immigrants, their experiences, keeping under cover, the smugglers. the dealers? Ugly accommodation - yet so much better than home? Rosa's transforming their house? The queuing for jobs? Enrique holding back? The line-ups, the choices, the trucks, the hard work in the fields with the vegetables? Bosses, wages? The chance encounter for Enrique and his going to the restaurant? A different world, a new vision, wealth, cleanliness? The food and clothes? His delight in working. his honesty? The jealousy of the Chicano cook? His promotion?
11. Rosa and the accommodation, her health? The encounter with Nacha? Getting a job as a maid? The wealthy Los Angeles homes, the kind but patronising American woman? The instructions, language difficulties, the washing machines and all the gadgets to save work? Rosa doing the washing by hand and the woman's kindly but insensitive remark? The bonds between the two women? Rosa's illness?
11. Rosa and the accommodation, her health? The encounter with Nacha? Getting a job as a maid? The wealthy Los Angeles homes, the kind but patronising American woman? The instructions, language difficulties, the washing machines and all the gadgets to save work? Rosa doing the washing by hand - and the woman's kindly but insensitive remark? The bonds between the two women? Rosa's illness and Nacha looking after her?
12. The immigrants and their language, classes, learning, adaptation? Homesickness? Hope? Always having to keep under cover, perpetual danger?
13. Enrique and the jealousy, the raid, his leaving his job? The offers to go to Chicago and be a foreman? The contact with the Chicago woman? His refusal? His going to plead with her, the ticket, the high hopes?
14. Rosa's illness, Nacha's support, Enrique and his options, the dreams of freedom, the bond with Rosa, his deciding to remain as the plane took off?
15. The pathos of his vigil at Rosa's bed, her death, his going back into the line-up, more aggressively? His future? The experience of the North ? joys, hopes, fulfilment, disillusionment?
16. A humane film? The attention to detail, eliciting audience emotional response? The North and America with its wealth, goodwill, meaning well? The satire on the American way of life? The exploiters ? in Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States? A document focusing on the plight of Latin Americans in the 80s?
