By Marco Antonio Gonzalez 

While there have been a few films, and I do mean a few, inspired by and for Latinos in the Hollywood factory, never has there been a film, much less a musical, where Latinos are not only the subject matter but also the behind the scenes, front and center of a plot. The celebration of community, Latino cultural pride and heritage have rarely been depicted or delivered in such a majestic manner by Hollywood as it has been in Jon M. Chu’s much anticipated Warner Brothers’ adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit musical In the Heights, which opens nationwide on June 11, 2021. 

To be fair, there have been some notable and remarkable films in the limited Hollywood archives that have been reserved for us in a dark corner of their basement and that are worth mentioning as legacy Latino films; some of these iconic films include Zoot Suit, Mi Familia, Stand and Deliver, La Bamba, El Norte, Selena, Frida, The Motorcycle Diaries and most recently, Disney’s Coco. But for the most part, our stories have been relegated to play second fiddle or simply stand in as extras on the sideline of American cinema–Think West Side Story, whose only redeemable element is the presence of our iconic Rita Moreno as the only real Latina in a reinvented Latino-themed Romeo and Juliet Broadway musical-turned-film. 

In the Heights stars Anthony Ramos (A Star is Born, Hamilton, Honest Thief, In Treatment), Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, Kong: ), Melissa Barrera (Vida, Scream, and Carmen), Lin Manuel Miranda, Jimmy Smits, Marc Anthony, singer/songwriter Leslie Grace in the lead role of Nina and Olga Merediz, who is the only cast member from the original Broadway musical that captures the essence of community and family in her reprised role as Abuela.

In the Heights marks a dramatic and most defined line between visibility and invisibility of the Hispanic experience in America as told by Hollywood, and while it may have taken some time to get here, it makes a bold statement about the importance, contributions and influence of Latinos in America.  In the Heights may take place in New York City’s Washington Heights, but it unites us all by subtly and elegantly embracing all Latinos under one beautifully wrapped bow; it could be the immigrant story of any of our families. Yes, language and culture are perhaps a common thread between the diverse and complex Latin American diaspora in the U.S., but in the end, as members of this rich and mixed culture, we understand that we all inevitably experience our “Latinoness” in a very unique idiosyncratic nationalist way, without failing to accept the fact that we still belong to a larger tribe, and that is the Latin American tribe, where the triumph of one is the triumph of us all. It’s hard for me as an American born Mexican to not move my hips on cue with the first note or beat of a cumbia or salsa track, or the contagious rhythms of Colombian vallenato, or feel pride when I see the Aztec dancers on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles or hear the dazzling and intoxicating notes of a Brazilian samba; that’s just who we are!

“In the Heights is more than a movie to me,” said Barrera exclusively to Latin Heat. “It represents honoring our people, it represents honoring our culture, it represents honoring generations of our ancestors that have long felt erased from the narrative and I love that the world will get to see our community in all of our complexity, in all of our beauty and glory too, and to see us celebrate each other and lift each other up because I feel that’s the essence of the Latinx community.” 

When you watch In the Heights for the first time, you feel that type of sensation and a warm fuzzy feeling, and you forget about your own Mexicanness, Puertoricanness (if those are even words), or your own family’s immediate national heritage and you embrace that rich culture that we all call Latino (or Hispanic, Latinx or whatever term you prefer), a culture that is expressed by this musical film in an explosion of color, music, dance, emotion and raw honesty. It took two influential and talented people of color, Miranda and Chu, to get Hollywood to finally tell our story with dignity and respect. 

In the Heights, the musical film is the product of two brilliant minds that bring to life our Latin experience in the U.S., the life of hard-working immigrant families who have been a quintessential part of the American fabric and the greatness of this nation. It is also a celebration of community, family and cultural pride, and heritage. The film is brilliantly directed by Chu as a musical of colossal proportions, with a crescendo effect of color and music that result in an explosive cinematic masterpiece with musical choreographies and numbers that are reminiscent of some of Hollywood’s most epic musicals of yesteryear. 

While the Broadway musical focused on the life and aspirations of Nina (played by Dominican singer Grace) and her personal conflicts between fulfilling her academic dreams and leaving her barrio behind, the film actually pivots its attention to the romantic storyline between the film’s lead characters Usnavi de la Vega (Ramos) and Vanessa (Barrera). The on-screen chemistry between Ramos and Barrera is pure magic and seamless. You believe their romance and truly fall for their love story from the opening of the film to the last frame that closes this unapologetic musical. 

In her film debut, Barrera steals every scene she appears in and unravels her singing, dancing and acting abilities in a similar fashion that Moreno must have done in 1961 when she swept Hollywood off its feet with her performance as Anita in West Side Story, which won her an Oscar for best actress in a supporting role that year. Barrera is not the next anything, she may very well be Hollywood’s newest quadruple threat, singer, actor, dancer and perfectly bilingual, a feat not seen or accomplished since Moreno’s successful and legendary career in entertainment. “I’m so excited for all the world to see us, to see our stories and to empathize with us, because I feel like we’re so much more similar than we are different,” said Barrera.

The film opens with the title track of “In the Heights,” and it is then that you immediately realize that you’re in for a very exhilarating and unforgettable cinematic experience because what comes next is an amalgamation of stellar choreographies, great music and a beautiful story that will endure the test of time. The grandeur and colorful performances of the “96,000” musical number in the community swimming pool are simply mesmerizing, and perhaps one of the most memorable moments in recent cinematic splendor. It truly is difficult to pick just one favorite moment, because Chu practically makes any plot fragment a gem without even trying, as is the case with the musical number “When You’re Home” with Hawkins and Grace dancing away on the side of an apartment building with the sunset as a golden backdrop or “It Won’t Be Long Now” with Barrera and Ramos. The art direction and the clever, timely insertion of the Dreamers storyline, which is not part of the original Broadway musical, are undoubtedly both carefully crafted characteristics that give the film and its characters a breath of depth and dignity you would never come to expect from a musical. 

Like Barrera said, In the Heights is more than a movie, it truly is an experience, the collective narrative of a group of people that have long been ignored by and intentionally left out of the Hollywood storytelling machine. In the Heights is the story of all Latinos living in the U.S. and a celebration of our communities, our cultural heritage and our powerful voices. In the Heights is truly the story of all of us. 

Featured Photo: ‘In the Heights’ (Credit: Warner Bros.)

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Film Review By Roberto Leal

The Infiltrators is not a Hollywood blockbuster about an elite team of undercover cops who infiltrate drug cartels, the Klan or socialist PTA meetings in San Francisco. As the old saying goes: Truth is stranger than fiction. The Infiltrators filmmakers, Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, have crafted a little gem of a story that features heroes equal to any in the Marvel Comic Book Universe.

In 1973, the world hailed the publication of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn’s book detailed the horrors of the Soviet Union’s vast prison system that locked up political dissidents, like Solzhenitsyn, homosexuals and other social misfits. A self-righteous America pointed an accusatory finger at the Soviet Union and bragged: “Thank God, we’re not like that!”

Fast forward to present day America along our southern border and witness the explosive growth of for-profit (because we’re capitalist, not communists) detention centers where up to 40,000 undocumented immigrants languish, often for years, in what can rightly be called The Latino Gulag Archipelago.

The Infiltrators tells the true, inspiring story of young, undocumented Dreamers, who intentionally let themselves be taken by the Border Patrol, to a detention center in Broward County, Florida, where undocumented immigrants await deportation. The Dreamers, as members of the National Immigration Youth Alliance (NIYA), use protests, online petitions, and pressure on local politicians, to stop the deportations of the detainees, who are being held for minor offenses.

We follow Marco (Maynor Alvarado) as he covertly works in the detention center to stop deportations and secure releases. The mild-mannered, but resolute Marco must maneuver carefully to avoid his cover being blown and winding up in solitary confinement and obscurity.

When Marco finds out there are 100 women being held in the detention center, the NIYA team on the outside decide to send Viridiana (Chelsea Rendon) inside to coordinate the Dreamer’s mission with Marco. Complications arise when Marco and Viridiana are found out by the Border Patrol. Afterall, The Infiltrators is a thriller. What would a thriller be without obstacles, danger and complications?

But the Infiltrators, which won the Next Section Audience Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, has won critical acclaim for its brilliant cross genre approach in creating a powerful documentary/thriller. It’s an effective story-telling technique. Oliver Stone did it successfully in JFK (1991). Rob Reiner’s rockumentary, Spinal Tap, (1994), used it to great comic effect. But the makers of The Infiltrators, have taken the documentary/narrative film structure, and to quote Emeril Lagasse, “kicked it up a notch.”

The real-life documentary footage of the Dreamers protesting outside the detention center and the re-enactments of the actual events inside, have been masterfully and seamlessly edited together into one cohesive whole. At no point in The Infiltrators can you tell where the documentary ends, and the re-enactment begins. This is a tribute to the first-rate editing and cinematography.

In any good thriller, pacing is an important factor. However, the suspense and tension cannot be too constant or hyperbolic, or the effect is lost. But the amount of suspense and tension must be just enough, and the plot points strategically placed to keep the audience in their seats for the narrative ride.  

Directors Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra surely must be acolytes of The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.  Like Hitchcock, Rivera and Ibarra deftly combine the musical score, understated acting, along with excellent pacing, to allow the suspense to play out in an even-handed and measured way 

I was glad to see that screenwriters Alex Rivera and Aldo Velasco avoided the temptation to paint the Border Patrol and Guards as cartoonish, evil villains. Of course, the Border Patrol and detention center Guards are uniformly big, imposing characters who can quickly turn tough and menacing when the situation calls for it.

Conversely, the Dreamers are not portrayed as annoyingly noble, altruistic, goody-two-shoes. Maynor Alvarado’s performance, as Marco, is especially noteworthy. Marco is a bookish type who is more suited to infiltrating a public library, not a hostile immigrant detention center. Marco is quiet and unassuming, but he’s absolutely committed to the mission of the Dreamers and the NIYA.

Alvarado, a veteran of TV shows like, Gray’s Anatomy, NCIS: Los Angeles and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, can do a lot just with his eyes. When Marco shows up at the door of the detention center to intentionally get himself taken in by the Border Patrol, his face clearly reveals his anxiety and inner conflict. Maynor Alvarado’s Marco is the kind of hero you find yourself enthusiastically rooting for.

Chelsea Rendon (Viridiana) made her feature film debut at the tender age of 7, in No Turning Back, a role which garnered her several awards.  She is currently a series regular on VIDA hit drama on the Starz Network. Rendon has perfected her craft in a wide range of TV and film roles. What I liked best about Rendon’s performance of Viridiana is the sheer lack of artifice. She’s obviously a natural born actress.  You are never aware that Rendon is acting. She is Viridiana.

The supporting cast adds depth, texture and authenticity to The Infiltrators. My only criticism of The Infiltrators is why wasn’t it made into a feature length film or a mini-series on Netflix? Everything eventually winds up on Netflix. As a struggling screenwriter, I’d love to be on the writing staff of The Infiltrators mini-series.  Oh well, I guess that makes me a very old Dreamer.

In the opening scene of The Infiltrators, we hear Marco, in voice-over narration say: “Last year, I was reading Kafka. This year, I’m living it.”

The Infiltrators ends on the night of the 2016 presidential election. Marco’s statement has proven to be painfully prophetic. The hateful, racist policies of the Incredible Hoax, currently occupying the White House, has turned our southern border into a disgraceful chain of concentration camps that would turn Eichmann green with envy.

Now, with the specter of the Trumpvirus infecting the immigrants imprisoned down there, we need heroes, like Marco and Viridiana and the NIYA, to spring into action and do their thing, so I can have material to write the screenplay to The Infiltrators: The Sequel.

The Infiltrators is an Oscilloscope Laboratories release. Due to the Trumpvirus Pandemic that has put the kibosh on folks going to the movies, the theatrical premiere date is still TBD. However, The Infiltrators will be available On Demand on June 2.

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