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From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Foreign Flicks ("El Norte")
Message-ID: <2783@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Jul-84 18:44:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.2783
Posted: Thu Jul 19 18:44:29 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Jul-84 03:38:36 EDT
References: <2108@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills
Lines: 33

>> The story is a bit saccharine, but believable.

One reason the story may seem "saccharine" to many moviegoers is that
the directors were trying to film the movie as much as possible from
the point of view of the Indians who are its main characters.  For
instance, sex and sexual interest are almost entirely absent from the
film; the two leading figures are beautiful young people who love each
other very much, but they are brother and sister and come from a
culture where such platonic love between siblings is not repressed or
linked to sex.  (Such is the assertion of the directors, anyway; I
guess each person who seems the movie has to decide for him/herself
whether it is plausible.)

Beyond that, the movie is very straightforward and takes place in three
segments showing the problems our heroes face in their native
Guatemala, as they flee through Mexico, and in their final refuge, the
U.S.  Although some readers of this newsgroup might attack it for being
didactic, it is not a movie that requires you to think a lot (gasp!
shudder!) unless you really want to.

I thought that the film was beautiful, gripping and did a good job of
presenting a real situation through a pair of fictional characters.
When you consider that it was made on a shoestring budget and under
adverse, even dangerous circumstances on location in southern Mexico,
its success is almost miraculous.  The directors are people to watch.
I wish I could remember the whole story; they are a team of two who
went through (?) UCLA film school together and have collaborated before
on two professional films.  His name escapes me, but she is Anna
Thomas, multi-talented author of "The Vegetarian Epicure," my favorite
cookbook.  (How much more politically correct can you get?! :-))

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle