El Norte

1983 drama

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Enrique and Rosa, Guatemalan peasants, decide to flee the violence of their homeland to look for some really good shopping malls in the land of the free and the home of the brave. They travel via bus, trucks, boats, train, elephant, chimp, motor scooter, children's backs, moon shoes, vines, skateboards, pogo sticks, more boats, tank, giraffes, dog sleds, magic carpet, cereal boxes fashioned into skis, each other, a circus train, rockets, skates, unicycles, ostriches, a race car, pterodactyl, wagon, police car, Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, submarine, jet skiis, crotch rockets, hot pockets, Calista Flockhart, jeeps, giant rats, bumper cars, flying saucers, underground burrowing, mules, kites, falcons, hot air balloons, cold air balloons, giant tire, shopping cart, feet, magic snowman's back, plastic motorized car, mammoth, Segways, clown car, Volkswagon van filled with hippies and pot smoke, big rig, little rig, medium-sized rig, tractor, llama, and a rainbow until they reach America. Then, everything is peachy because they're in America which is always a welcoming, wonderful place for immigrants.

I believe I need to see this one again. I was distracted by a my own gloominess and fatigue. The saga of these two unfortunate souls isn't always easy to watch, and not just the devastatingly sad scenes. Check out the scene in the sewer amongst the rats, a couple which the siblings ride upon. Some interesting settings, atmospheres decorated with some almost surreal touches working as a virtual road trip through Central America. The third part of the film, in Los Angeles, gets a little melodramatic and loses some steam. The filming looks cheap, and the characters are likable but not exactly a draw, but this is important story showcasing the plight of numerous people and is still topical 25 years later.