This film will enlighten all who despise illegal immigrants to the U.S.A. I am one who is concerned about illegal immigrants crossing our borders by the thousands every day. This movie illustrates just what these immigrants endure and risk to go to El Norte (The North). Gregory Nava has created a masterpiece of low budget film-making with the help of cinematographer James Glennon and his co-writer Anna Thomas. The visuals are stunning it takes place in a small Central American village in Guatemala (western Mexico stands in for off-limits Guatemala). It is a small Indian village where locals speak Ki'iche instead of Spanish. Local farmers rebel when the military begins partitioning their land resulting in the deaths of many farmers. Rosa & Enrique Xuncax see their father killed and their mother taken away and incarcerated. They are next, and the know it. They decide to run off to El Norte, the dreamland their mother often swooned about. Thus begins a perilous trek and an adventurous journey to the U.S.A./the Promised Land. Only the poverty and danger of Mexico stands in their way. Newcomers Zaide Silvia Gutierrez and David Villalpando are superb as the leads and they steal and break your heart. This is a truly stunning film! It is now out on Criterion DVD and includes a 2-hour documentary of what this crew endured in the making of El Norte. I highly recommend it.
