One way to both better understand and celebrate a culture is to be immersed in its media, including its literature, art, and movies. September 15 to October 15, 2021, is Latinx Heritage Month and it also coincides with many Latinx countries' Independence Days.
There are many great documentaries that explore the Latinx experience, ranging in subject from history and culture to celebrations of the influence of Latinx community on the rest of the world.
Antes De Que Nos Olviden (Before We Are Forgotten) (2014)
This brilliant HBO documentary was directed by Matias Gueilburt and showed the fallout from the 2006 "war on drugs" declared by Mexican President, Felipe Calderón. Over the next six years, the fallout of this so-called war spread throughout the country quickly and aggressively.
The war may have officially ended, but the violence and devastation caused by it continue to this day, with almost 121,000 victims who faced violent deaths and thousands more that disappeared or were kidnapped or exiled. The story is brilliantly told by Mexican historians, journalists, artists, politicians, and more, while the emotional suffering is driven home in interviews with those left behind by the victims.
Latino Vote: Dispatches From The Battleground (2020)
In the 2020 election, the voters in the swing states of Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas were seen as the lynchpin to winning the election. It was clear to both campaigns that engaging the long-neglected Latinx voters in not only these states but all across the country was key, as they were estimated to be the largest ethnicity with untapped eligible votes.
Director Bernardo Ruiz followed both side's attempts to appeal to Latinx voters across their varied heritages and complex cultures. Viewers can find this documentary on Amazon.
My American Girls (2001)
Aaron Matthews made this PBS POV documentary to look at the life of immigrants going into the new century, following the Ortiz's, who immigrated to Brooklyn from the Dominican Republic in 1975. They are hardworking, contemporary immigrants and dream of making enough to provide for their daughters - and to retire home to their birth nation of the Dominican.
The film delves into the long days of many immigrants, including the Ortiz's, who work hard for low pay that allows them to provide for their families and slowly build their dream home for their retirement. Their devotion to returning to the DR and willingness to work long, thankless jobs is something their daughters can genuinely not understand.
!Palante, Siempre Palante! The Young Lords (1996)
This documentary is another entry from the POV collection of documentaries on PBS directed by Iris Morales. Using archival footage and photos interspersed with interviews, this film looks back at a militant group of the Latinx who made up the Puerto Rican Young Lords Party and were heavily involved in the many civil and social justice movements of past decades.
Embracing the issues as their own, this group was an active and aggressive New York City-based civil rights organization. They were very vocal in the Vietnam War protests and both the civil rights movement of the '60s and the women's equality push of the '70s.
Living Los Sures (2014)
The southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is known as Los Sures by the many Latinx long-term residents there. This project grew over five years at the UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art by 60 artists. The result was Living Los Sures, a project of 40 short documentaries that show the advancement of the neighborhood from what was once known as one of the worst ghettos in all the country to an up-and-coming or trendy place to be.
The centerpiece is the 1984 documentary Los Sures, which follows the mainly Puerto Rican and Dominican residents as they struggle to make the neighborhood better, focusing on both their culture and determination, which helped them to overcome.
Los Graduados (The Graduates, 2013)
This PBS documentary is an Independent Lens offering that follows six Latinx students and shows the issues in the American education system that affect them. Following three male and three female students, the documentary dives into the problems, from avoiding falling in with the wrong crowd to dealing with obstacles around undocumented status and cultural issues facing LGBTQ+ Latinx teens.
Also seen throughout the film are the parents who sacrifice everything to see their kids succeed and the public figures who relate their own school experiences.
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
In 1996, acclaimed director Wim Wenders gathered a group of accomplished jazz musicians from Cuba to record an album and share the fiery music of a little-known culture. The film showed the culture and people through the musicians, brought together to help celebrate the music that has been largely hidden from non-Cuban Americans due to the country's embargo.
And because of the stellar talents of these artists, they've since become household names, won many awards, and continue to make music together to this day.
I'm Leaving Now (2018)
Directed by Lindsey Cordero and Armando Croda, this film follows Felipe, an undocumented worker in the immigrant community of Brooklyn, and spans two years of his life. He has worked three different jobs and collected bottles for the 16 years he has been in the U.S., sending all his money back to his family in Mexico.
It has been two decades since he left his wife and kids, and he is horrified to learn the truth: that there is no money saved and he is not wanted at home. The rest of the documentary follows his struggle with deciding to stay working in America or return to his debt and family in Mexico.
Southwest Of Salem: The Story Of The San Antonio Four (2016)
This true-crime documentary available to stream on Amazon Prime came out in 2016 and quickly skyrocketed to the top of many lists of can't miss documentaries, garnering many praises from audiences and critics and winning multiple awards, among those being a Critic's Choice Award, GLAAD Award, and a Peabody. The story is of four friends, all Latinx and of the LGBTQ+ community, who were accused of horrendous child abuse and sent to prison in Texas based on jury prejudice and junk science.
Stories of wrongfully convicted women, especially those of Latinx heritage, and even more of the LGBTQ+ community are woefully underreported. As the filmmakers with the Innocence Project, they strive to undo some of these wrongs. When one of the two children, now a young adult, recants her statement, it sends the investigation into overdrive, with all four women eventually released and pardoned after over two decades in prison.
The Latino List (2011)
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders helmed this HBO documentary that assembles 16 Latinx community , all public figures well-known worldwide. These include celebrities like America Ferrera and John Leguizamo, icons such as Gloria Estefan and the pro golfer Chi-Chi Rodriguez, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor from the Supreme Court of the United States.
The interviews focus on how each of these stars overcame a past full of struggles, often being asked to be more or less Latinx, with others facing those who try to define them as they work to define themselves. It is an inspirational and incredibly enlightening film, allowing those who have fought to succeed to expose the racism and struggles they had in getting there.
