AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE: EL NORTE (TV)
Summary
In this Academy Award-nominated film, two teenagers flee from the death squads of Guatemala to urban Los Angeles. The film is set to traditional Guatemalan music, including marimbas and harp music. In the first segment, entitled "Arturo Xuncax" and set in Guatemala, the workers on a coffee plantation organize to try and regain control of their land from wealthy foreigners. Rosa and Enrique's father, Arturo, attends -- but the army pounces on the meeting and decapitates Arturo. His family mourns his death in a funeral procession; later, upon returning home from washing laundry, Rosa discovers that her family has disappeared. In the forest she finds her brother Enrique is still alive: but he is marked for death, and Rosa decides to join him on his long, expensive journey to the North. Their godmother gives Rosa her life savings, while a friend advises Enrique to pretend to be from Mexico, and to find a "coyote" to help cross a militarized zone -- the U.S.-Mexican border. But Rosa must first convince Enrique that bringing her along is safer than leaving her behind. In the second segment, entitled "El Coyote" and set in Mexico, Rosa and Enrique hitch a truck ride toward the North. A bus brings them to Tijuana, where several "coyotes" pitch them lines about the wealthy North, contrasting the ramshackle homes in Tijuana with visions of sparkling lawns and homes. Derided by Mexicans as bumpkins, Rosa and Enrique are advised by a friendly man named Jaime to try crossing the border at night with him. Jaime houses them in a shack -- and while Enrique is thankful, Rosa is a bit wary. During the crossing, they are robbed and discovered by the Border Patrol, whose agents issue an ill-conceived test to determine their origin. Back in Tijuana, a family friend and restaurateur, Len Gutierrez, agrees to sneak the two Guatemalans through unused sewer tunnels that connect Tijuana to the North. But to do so, they must sell their mother's necklaces made of pure silver. As a Border Patrol helicopter monitors the area, Rosa and Enrique successfully wiggle through miles of dark, foul-smelling tunnels -- until they are engulfed by a swarm of rats. Meanwhile, the helicopter awaits on the other side -- as does the marvelous spectacle of the San Diego lights. Includes two brief intermissions.
In the final segment, entitled "The North" and set in Los Angeles, Mr. Gutierrez sets up Rosa and Enrique in a cheap, dirty hotel room, where they are intrigued by the electric light and flushing toilet in the otherwise uncommodious room. Rosa begins pressing clothes in a sweatshop and finds a confidante named Nacha, while Enrique lands a job as a water boy in a ritzy, otherworldly restaurant, where he learns the distinction between Chicanos and immigrants. After the sweatshop is raided by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Nacha suggests that Rosa help her clean houses. Their first employer, Helen Rodgers, gives them a host of complex instructions for operating a washer and dryer. Finding the electronic machine inefficient, Rosa washes the clothes by hand and dries them on the grass as she had done in Guatemala, appalling Mrs. Rodgers in the process. Attending English classes, Enrique and Rosa settle into a life of witnessing others' luxury, but Enrique anticipates newfound respect when he is promoted. A businesswoman offers him a job as a foreman in a Chicago factory and promises to provide him with a green card; at first, he rejects the offer upon learning he cannot bring his sister, but then reconsiders. Meanwhile, a Rosa is overcome by an intense fever and, upon awakening, sees her dead mother making tortillas. More problems descend upon the Guatemalan teenagers: a jealous Chicano co-worker reports Enrique to INS, and Rosa, fearing she will be deported and murdered, begs Nacha not to take her to the hospital. And ultimately, Enrique must decide whether to accept the job in Chicago or stay behind with his ill sister.
This program contains graphic violence and adult-oriented language in Spanish. This program is in English and Spanish with English subtitles. Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1998.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: May 20, 1985 Monday 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:23:14
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:21370
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Emigration and immigration - Drama; Refugees, political - Drama
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1982-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Lindsay Law … Executive Producer
- Roger Downey … Coordinating Producer
- Anna Thomas … Producer, Writer
- Gregory Nava … Director, Writer
- Jose Avila … Music by
- Gerardo Tamex … Music by
- Los Folkloristas … Composer
- Melecio Martinez … Composer
- Emil Richards … Composer
- Ernesto Gomez Cruz … Cast, Arturo Xuncax
- David Villalpando … Cast, Enrique Xuncax
- Zaide Silvia Gutierrez … Cast, Rosa Xuncax
- Alicia Del Lago … Cast, Lupe Xuncax
- Miguel Gomez Giron … Cast, Informer
- Jose Martin Ruano … Cast, Foreman
- Stella Quan … Cast, Josefita
- Eraclio Zepeda … Cast, Pedro
- Emilio Gomez Ozuna … Cast, Luis
- Daniel Lemus Valenzuela … Cast, Encarnacion
- Rodrigo Puebla … Cast, El Puma the Soldier
- Yosahandi Navarrete Quan … Cast, Josefita's Daughter
- Rodolfo Alejandre … Cast, Ramon
- Emilio Del Haro … Cast, Truck Driver
- Jorge Moreno … Cast, Old Man on Bus
- Palomo Garcia … Cast, Coyote at Bus Station
- Mike Gomez … Cast, Jaime the Coyote
- Ismael Gamez … Cast, Jeering Slumdweller
- Silverio Lujan … Cast, Jeering Slumdweller
- Socorro Velazquez … Cast, Jeering Slumdweller
- John Martin … Cast, Border Guard Ed
- Ron Joseph … Cast, Border Guard Joel
- Abel Franco … Cast, Raimundo
- Rosario Cevellos … Cast, Fruit Vendor
- Trinidad Silva … Cast, Monty
- Lupe Ontiveros … Cast, Nacha
- Young Chung … Cast, Mr. Chung
- Gregory Enton … Cast, Len the Restaurateur
- Tony Plana … Cast, Carlos the Bus Boy
- Slavitza Yhuelo … Cast, Model in Sweatshop
- Julie Silliman … Cast, Model in Sweatshop
- Enrique Castillo … Cast, Jorge the Dishwasher
- Momo Yashima … Cast, English Teacher
- Jo Marie Ward … Cast, Helen Rogers
- Loraine Shields … Cast, Girl Who Orders Coffee
- Larry Cedar … Cast, Bruce the Waiter
- Sheryl Bernstein … Cast, Karen the Hostess
- Diane Civita … Cast, Alice Harper
- Eulalia Cardenas … Cast, Curandera
- Mary Armantrout … Cast, Nurse
- George O'Hanlon Jr. … Cast, Doctor Murphy
- Bob Cane … Cast, Lab Technician
- Pablo Velasquez … Cast, Foreman at Construction Site