Today’s Video: “El Norte”, 25 years later

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the widespread release of “El Norte”. The groundbreaking film by Gregory Nava looked at the trials and tribulations of a pair of Guatemalan siblings emigrating to the U.S. The movie shined a light on the immigration debate back when it wasn’t the contentious issue that it is today.

Aside from highlighting immigration, “El Norte” was influential in other ways:

As novelist and (Los Angeles) Times columnist Héctor Tobar points out in an essay in a program booklet accompanying the (25th anniversary) Criterion release, in the early 1980s Hollywood produced a handful of films examining these conflicts, such as "Missing," "Under Fire" and "Salvador." But their protagonists typically were non-Latinos. "El Norte" broke from this pattern by making the young siblings played by Mexican actors Zaide Silvia Gutierrez and David Villalpando the center of the action.

Another factor in "El Norte's" success was the rise of a new wave of U.S. independent filmmakers. Nava was one of several young independent directors, such as Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, John Sayles and David Lynch, who, Nava says, felt "there was a need at that time to deal with different sorts of subject matter, different things the Hollywood film was not dealing with."

"El Norte" continues to be as relevant today as it was first released. The movie has been a personal favorite since I first viewed it spellbound and awe over a decade ago in high school. Even to those who oppose legal/illegal immigration, the issues raised by the movie make it a must-watch:

Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, YouTube, imdb.com, Wikipedia