El Norte
February 2009 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: Blu-ray	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

This epic film tells the story of a brother and sister who escape Guatemala, travel through Mexico, and finally reach their destination, "El Norte," North America, specifically Los Angeles, where they live as illegal immigrants. All of that might sound commonplace until you look at the release date of the film: 1983. Unless they lived near Mexico, say in California, most people were unaware that we even had immigrants living in the US. At that time, they were invisible people.

Director Gregory Nava studied film at UCLA, and though born in the United States, he is of Hispanic ancestry. He had a strong desire to make a film that would call attention to the plight of the immigrant in a realistic, sympathetic manner. El Norte was his first feature film, and Roger Ebert as well as a few other critics championed it. Consultants say you should write about what you know, and for his initial plunge into cinema Nava did just that. Though still working today, Nava hasn’t made anything approaching the genius of El Norte.

The movie is divided into three parts: "Arturo Xuncax," "El Coyote," and "The North." The first is supposed to take place in Guatemala, but because there was civil war going on there, Nava chose to film in Mexico’s southern regions, the Mayan high country. The director contrasts the beauty of the geographical surroundings with the horror of political unrest. Brother and sister Enrique (David Villalpando) and Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutierrez) live poorly yet with strong family ties. Their father, unhappy with working conditions, is shot and beheaded by soldiers at a political meeting convened at a picturesque yet forbidding abandoned hacienda. The mother then "disappears," and the siblings decide that they must escape to America.

When they get to Mexico, in the second part, they get hooked up with a man who, for a fee, shows them how to get to the United States by crawling through a long series of drain pipes, where they are attacked by rats. But the two persevere and do make it to America. In the third part of the story, they adjust to American life. They find that though things are better in the north, situations are far from perfect. This segment that begins with humor and hope, and it ends with sadness and tragedy.

Nava worked with a skeleton crew. The locations were shot with everyone traveling in just two vans, quite a difference from the entourage one might expect these days. He had artistic geniuses at work for him, and they and the cast gave more than even they thought possible. James Glennon’s cinematography is splendid, award-worthy material. When you find out, through the included documentary, what he had to go through to achieve such magnificent footage, you’ll find it amazing that the result is so perfect. Glennon was the only photographer and, likewise, Robert Yerrington was the only sound man. Yet the sound is magnificent mono. The music is full-bodied and rich, the dialogue natural and unforced.

Criterion has produced a Blu-ray that stands as the final word on this beautiful and powerful film. The early scenes are eye-popping, what with the bright native clothing contrasted with natural green forests and gritty dirt streets. Focus is always tight; no detail is lost. Since the mono soundtrack is of such high quality, Criterion has wisely chosen to present it uncompressed rather than channeling it into any false stereo or surround mix. The extras are modest yet telling and include the aforementioned documentary (In the Service of the Shadows: the Making of El Norte) on the making of the movie, as well as an audio commentary by Nava, an Artisan trailer, and a gallery of location-scouting photos. The Blu-ray also includes Nava’s black-and-white student film, The Journal of Diego Rodriguez Silva, an interesting and poetic effort. Unlike El Norte, it has not been restored, which makes watching it more of a chore than it would be otherwise.

El Norte is a landmark movie that is also a very enjoyable viewing experience. It has likable characters in real situations, and it gives one a more favorable picture of these invisible people than does the six o’clock news. I came away from it with renewed compassion and a new awareness of the plight of immigrants. And a lot of haunting questions as to what to do that will stick in my memory for some time.

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