September 15 – October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. To celebrate, here are some notable Hispanic DVDs released this year.
Bless Me, Ultima (2013) is a film adaptation of the classic and controversial young adult novel by Rudolfo Anaya set in New Mexico during World War II. Antonio (Luke Ganalon) is a boy who seeks the help of Ultima (Miriam Colon, in an award winning performance), a medicine woman with supernatural powers, to cope with the challenges in his young life. Director Carl Franklin’s adaptation received generally favorable reviews from critics, especially in translating the novel’s magical realism to the screen.
Filly Brown (2013) stars Gina Rodriguez as Filly Brown, a struggling hip hop artist in Los Angeles. Her mother is in jail, and her father is trying desperately to provide. A lucrative record deal could be her way out, but she’d have to sacrifice her art and her conscience in order to do so. The film costars Lou Diamond Phillips, Edward James Olmos and Jenni Rivera (in her final performance before her death) and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
Mosquita y Mari (2013) is a small film that impressed critics and audiences earlier this year. Yolanda (Fenessa Pineda) and Mari (Venecia Troncoso) are two 15-year-old girls from immigrant families, who struggle with the challenges of life in Los Angeles. The start out as study partners, then friends, and then a mutual attraction develops. Critics lauded the film for its realistic depiction of the difficulties many teens find themselves going through, and for putting a new spin on the coming-0f-age tale.
The Latino Americans (2013) is a documentary that recently aired on PBS. The six-episode program chronicles the history, struggles and contributions that Latinos have had for the 500-year history of the United States. It features interviews with nearly 100 Latinos, including entertainers Rita Moreno and Gloria Estefan and labor leaders Dolores Huerta and Linda Chávez.
Finally, if you haven’t seen Searching for Sugar Man (2012), the winner of the 2013 Best Documentary Academy Award, now is the time, as the waitlist has shrunk considerably. This fascinating film tells the story of Sixto Rodriguez, an obscure Detroit musician from the 1970s whose lack of commercial success caused him to give up his artistic dreams, only to find out he was an icon in South Africa where it was rumored he had committed suicide years before.
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