By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Diega Luna
Starring: America Ferrara | Jacob Vargas | John Malkovich | John Ortiz; Wes Bentley | Michael Peña | Rosario Dawson
Country: mexico, united_states
Year: 2014
Running time: 102
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1621046/combined
Bruce says: “Films like CESAR CHAVEZ deserve an audience because they retell important moments in American history. Most Americans probably don’t know much about Chavez because they are too young or have forgotten most of the details of what happened over four decades ago. In a nutshell, Chavez almost single-handedly organized the Mexican and Filipino farm workers in California, workers who were making $2 a day or less with no time for meals and no accessible bathrooms. Worse, many were physically abused by their white employers. Any slight objection to the status quo meant loss of a job; forget talk of insubordination or the most heinous of evils, unionization.
“CESAR CHAVEZ has a pedigree. Its producers include John Malkovich and Gael Garcia Bernal and it is directed by Bernal’s co-star in Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN, Diego Luna. The film does a decent job of covering the basic facts of Chavez’s rise to fame, his ongoing struggles to organize farm workers against all odds, his ability to unite Mexicans and Filipinos, his 300 mile march to Sacramento, and his three week fast in the name of non-violence.
‘In the attempt to make Chavez’s story more ‘touchy-feely,’ many characters are introduced. Some disappear without having much to do. Unfortunately, the film attempts to have a back-story about the strained relationship with Cesar and his eldest child,
Fernando. Although the film begins with eight children lined up with their parents for a family photo, once the story begins to unfold the other children simply evaporate. The father and son relationship of the wealthy Bogdanovich family makes a feeble attempt to parallel that of Cesar and Fernando; but it, too, loses its momentum.
“Michael Peňa is a decent Chavez. It is a shame that good actors such as Wes Bentley and Rosario Dawson do not have characters written well enough to do them justice. Many issues of human rights and basic civil rights are similar to those today in the American workplace. Given the opportunity, those in power will more than likely abuse that power. The Mexicans and Filipinos were fighting for a livable wage not a life of mindless luxury, as their oppressors would have the public believe. History simply repeats itself over and over again. 3 cats”