DVD Review: Social Realism of ‘El Norte’ Resonates With Criterion Release

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DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Gregory Bava’s “El Norte” is a riveting commentary on the impact of the American dream on the rest of the world. It’s easily one of the best films produced about the complex struggle of immigration and a great way to kick off 2009 for The Criterion Collection.

The three-chapter films details the ripple effect of even just the perception of the money, freedom, and happiness that is supposedly only possible in “El Norte”. Bava’s highly acclaimed film is a quarter-century old but is just as pertinent today as when it was made. It’s not an easy film. The story of Enrique and Rosa is shockingly sad and hard-to-watch, but it details something that is happening every single day and should not be ignored.

El Norte was released by The Criterion Collection on January 20th, 2009.
Photo credit: Criterion

“El Norte” is split into three chapters - “Arturo Xuncax,” “The Coyote,” and “The North”.

In the first, Bava details a family in Guatemala, a country divided by class issues and violence. Arturo, father to Enrique and Rosa, has joined a revolutionary group that has grown tired of being nothing but “braceros” (pairs of arms). He comments to his son on the rich coming from the north to take their land. It is fascinating that the wealth from the United States trickling down into countries like Guatemala creates class issues that force immigrants to flee and come to this country for safety. It’s all a vicious cycle.

El Norte was released by The Criterion Collection on January 20th, 2009. Photo credit: Criterion

At one of his meetings, Arturo is brutally murdered and his son finds his decapitated head. After the murder, Enrique and Rosa’s mother disappears, and they know it’s time to run. They head to the land of freedom and hope, where Enrique promises his sister, “We won’t be treated this way.”

The second chapter, “The Coyote” details the journey and Bava pulls no punches. These poor, gentle souls come into the country in a way that thousands probably have, through sewer tunnels. A scene where hundreds of rats overtake the couple in the miles of darkness is hard to watch.

In the final chapter, “The North,” Enrique and Rose learn that the American dream is not all that Good Housekeeping magazine made it out to be as he becomes a waiter and she becomes a maid.

“El Norte” is simply fantastic. It is both stark realism and a commentary on the entirety of the immigration crisis. And it’s startling to think that it was made twenty-five years ago. When a man involved in the immigrant trade comments on how quickly the economy of the States would collapse if they weren’t bringing in “cheap labor,” it sounds like something that could have been said in debates about the issue from the last election season.

“El Norte” has lost none of its power and, even though I didn’t see it in 1983, it may be even more remarkable than when it was first released. I was unfamiliar with the film before this Criterion version, even though I knew it was a nominee for Best Original Screenplay, and it’s just further testament to this company’s incredible commitment to quality that they continue to find relatively unheralded or forgotten films like “El Norte” and bring them back to the forefront.

Roger Ebert, a huge fan of “El Norte” on its release, called the film “a Grapes of Wrath for our time”. His entire review is included in the liner notes for the Criterion edition along with a new essay by novelist Hector Tobar.

The film itself is presented in a new, restored high-definition digital transfer that was supervised and approved by director Gregory Nava and is accompanied by a new audio track by its director. There is also a new and improved English subtitle translation on the actual film.

The second disc of the Criterion version of “El Norte” includes “In the Service of the Shadows: The Making of ‘El Norte,” which is a new video program featuring interviews with Nava, producer and co-writer Anna Thomas, actors Zaide Silvia Gutierrez and David Villalpando, and set design David Wasco, “The Journal of Diego Rodriguez,” Nava’s 1972 award-winning student film, and a gallery of Chiapas location-scouting photographs.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com