Social history of the Mexican gang-banger set in East LA.
What does "inspired by a true story" mean? Most things on TV and in the cinema are inspired by true stories or glued together true stories; or even what-if true stories. Films are either true (allowing for cinematic license and internal time constraints) or they are not!
This does, indeed, tell lots of truths. But they were truths I already knew: Prison is hell. Rough ethnic neighbourhoods are run by gangsters. Drugs are the only way to live beyond hand-to-mouth when you have no education. The unseen ties that bind. I could go on a while, but I won't.
But is "entertainment" the right way to explore this? Wouldn't documentary deliver more punches per minute? Is there not a danger of even making "the life" look a bit glamorous? Despite everything you can throw at the audience? I mean what have these people to lose - a life tossing burgers or working fields?
I have a theory about gangs. They are what the whole world would be like without law and order, indeed they thrive where law and order is at its weakest. You won't break them because they make sense, they offer comradeship, leadership and employment. Sorry if I am making them sound a good thing - but they serve a purpose like hard drugs do. Acknowledge it or not.
The film works hard not to glamorise crime and its shows the victims too (so better than the Godfather in that respect), but it is a film born in to bondage. People are on a track without crossroads or even slip-roads. "No hope" is written across their foreheads. They plod their path like lambs to the slaughter.
To be the boss in the Mexican underworld you have to be vicious, you have to blackmail, rob, kill; and indeed risk being killed yourself. You have to sell your soul and become a cold robot without true human feelings.
I thank the producers for showing me a piece of the world I will never visit, but what have I learned that is going to change my life? Most people that are in prison deserve to be there - they are there because they are criminals convicted by courts on evidence. How can I "feel for them"?
While it stays away from siding with the guilty, this only results in it being cold and moody. It left me outside, when all good movies (of whatever intention) bring me inside the tent rather than a freezing outside.
A brave try, Snr. Almos, and probably as good as you could do given the severe limits of the people under the microscope and the subject matter. You now know what most actors seek to learn: Yes you can direct, but you are actually only average at it.
What does "inspired by a true story" mean? Most things on TV and in the cinema are inspired by true stories or glued together true stories; or even what-if true stories. Films are either true (allowing for cinematic license and internal time constraints) or they are not!
This does, indeed, tell lots of truths. But they were truths I already knew: Prison is hell. Rough ethnic neighbourhoods are run by gangsters. Drugs are the only way to live beyond hand-to-mouth when you have no education. The unseen ties that bind. I could go on a while, but I won't.
But is "entertainment" the right way to explore this? Wouldn't documentary deliver more punches per minute? Is there not a danger of even making "the life" look a bit glamorous? Despite everything you can throw at the audience? I mean what have these people to lose - a life tossing burgers or working fields?
I have a theory about gangs. They are what the whole world would be like without law and order, indeed they thrive where law and order is at its weakest. You won't break them because they make sense, they offer comradeship, leadership and employment. Sorry if I am making them sound a good thing - but they serve a purpose like hard drugs do. Acknowledge it or not.
The film works hard not to glamorise crime and its shows the victims too (so better than the Godfather in that respect), but it is a film born in to bondage. People are on a track without crossroads or even slip-roads. "No hope" is written across their foreheads. They plod their path like lambs to the slaughter.
To be the boss in the Mexican underworld you have to be vicious, you have to blackmail, rob, kill; and indeed risk being killed yourself. You have to sell your soul and become a cold robot without true human feelings.
I thank the producers for showing me a piece of the world I will never visit, but what have I learned that is going to change my life? Most people that are in prison deserve to be there - they are there because they are criminals convicted by courts on evidence. How can I "feel for them"?
While it stays away from siding with the guilty, this only results in it being cold and moody. It left me outside, when all good movies (of whatever intention) bring me inside the tent rather than a freezing outside.
A brave try, Snr. Almos, and probably as good as you could do given the severe limits of the people under the microscope and the subject matter. You now know what most actors seek to learn: Yes you can direct, but you are actually only average at it.