MUBI

(Criterion Edition)

I first saw El Norte about ten years ago when my Spanish teacher showed it to the class. From what I can remember she had a non-subtitled copy, the point being for us to see what we could discern without the help of subs. Well, the only part I remember from the film is the jarring rat attack scene, which I think anybody who’s ever seen El Norte will remember for the rest of their lives. It is startling in its savagery and painful to watch. You wonder what could make two human beings desperate enough to endure something so horrible.

Hence, on rewatching the film, I was attempting to answer this question. Okay, civil war, hope for “something more,” etc. and I wasn’t really getting into the film for the first half hour or so. Then I switched over to director Gregory Nava’s commentary audio track, in which he passionately discusses the film non-stop. Nava’s explanations of why certain camera shots were used and to what effect, what the symbolism means (and the many references to Mayan culture), and his anecdotes about the difficulties of filming brought my experience of El Norte to a new level. For example, did you know that he used a lot of profile shots because this is the way people are shown in Mayan artwork? I didn’t. Did you know that many of the “actors” were people from the areas in which they were filming, some of them illegal immigrants themselves? Me neither. Or how about that Nava and his crew were menaced by machete-wielding southern Mexicans when they tried filming inside of a church? All of what Nava had to say was very interesting and you can tell how enamored he is of the film and its story. Sometimes he gushes a bit too much about an actor’s performance; and although the performance is nothing bad, it’s not mindblowing. But overall I’d recommend watching the film straight once, then a second time with Nava’s commentary and seeing what you might not have picked up on. Either I’m not very perceptive when it comes to these things, or perhaps the film doesn’t do the best job of making it’s symbolism, metaphors, and cultural references clear.

At any rate, I certainly will remember more of the film than the rat attack from now on.

This movie shows you how immigrants and non-whites act when in the presence of such “Beautiful and Superior” Caucasian people! OMG look at her blonde hair it’s so beautiful just like a model in the magazine! Meanwhile I’m fucking sewing in a slave factory for less than minimum wage while I dress up in make up because I am conditioned by the Global White Supremacy that was conditioned to me by propaganda Media like Magazines/TV! Fuckin AmeriKKKA the place to sacrifice all your life for just to get BLING BLING BLING BLING!!! And in the end being successful in Amerikkka doesn’t mean shit because you’re still a poor looked-down upon hands and feet for the white-man-worker while you have flashbacks of your father’s decapitated head. THANKS AMERIKKKA!

FUCKIN GENIUS MOVIE! I can’t believe this director made Selena! This movie is one of the best MOVIES I’ve seen IN A WHILE!!!! AMAZING!!

I picked up this movie from my local library and had low expectations about it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Nava’s direction and the movie’s cinematography. It has for sure been influential to other younger filmmakers (like Fukunaga).

An interesting pattern I observed is that Nava uses a medium shot, follow by a close up. He does that in almost every take of the movie.

Only complaint? the movie is too long, but a superb film nevertheless.

Gregory Nava’s wrenching and beautiful epic about a displaced Mayan brother and sister illegally crossing the Mexican border to California remains important today, both as one of the first American independent films to cross over with a profitable campaign, and as an engrossing examination of the “shadow” immigrant culture that American production would be lost without, a topic that remains prescient two and a half decades later. With a skilled mix of Latin American magical realism and socio-political realism, Nava takes his heroes, Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutierre) and Enrique (David Villalpando), from war-torn Guatemala, where their pro-union mother and father are killed by local military, through Mexico and it’s shanty-towns and human smuggling coyotes, over the border (in a harrowing sequence involving a swarm of rats and a never-ending sewer tunnel), and to L.A., where life as an illegal, underpaid immigrant is hardly the American Dream they were anticipating. Hauntingly beautiful in every way, from the bright colors of the traditional Mayan Indian dress, to the lyrical and symbolic editing structure, which relies on short dream sequences and symbols, Nava’s film is one of a kind, and Criterion’s much anticipated DVD, with a commentary track and hour long documentary, recounts the entire story of the impossibly difficult Mexican/California shoot, and it’s almost as good as the film itself.

El Norte is easily one of the greatest depictions of the reality of the American dream I have ever seen. It lends a raw soul to the intricacies of the immigration issue. And to my surprise, this isn’t really for or against either. If anything, it can actually be seen as a cautionary tale for other eager runaways too. El Norte is truly brilliant in that it can present such a complex multi-faceted issue with such clarity. There are no obstructions here in trying to identify with the brother and sister. It never forgets that these two are more than just good pairs of arms – they have hearts and souls too.