Two Latino Films Draw Criticism for Their Emphasis on Violence

The years 1987 and 1988 were a watershed for Latino films, with Luis Valdez’s “La Bamba,” Richard (Cheech) Marin’s “Born in East L.A.,” and Ramon Menendez’s “Stand and Deliver.” But since then, few Latino projects have reached the big screen, and those that have did poorly at the box office.

Now, a pair of major studio films about Chicano and prison gangs--”American Me,” directed by Edward James Olmos, and “Blood In . . . Blood Out,” directed by Taylor Hackford, are drawing attention--and controversy--well before their scheduled releases next year.

Even though the films by Olmos, the Oscar-nominated star of “Stand and Deliver,” and “La Bamba” producer Taylor Hackford feature Latino actors in starring roles and sizable numbers of Latinos are involved behind the cameras, the movies have become targets of criticism.

Chicano activists are worried that after the heroic portrayals of Ritchie Valens in “La Bamba” and Jaime Escalante in “Stand and Deliver,” Hollywood is about to offer double-barreled portrayals of the darkest side of Chicano life.

The films feature violent portrayals of Chicano street and prison gangs, random drive-by shootings, lives ruined by drugs and addiction, and race riots staged in state prisons.

Industry insiders say that it was Hackford’s and Olmos’ 1987 and 1988 successes that won approval for these competing projects. Neither, however, has had a hit film lately. Olmos’ baseball film, “Talent for the Game,” went directly to video, and Hackford’s “Everybody’s All-American” proved a box office disappointment. With the new films, industry sources say, the studios are hoping to appeal to the large Latino youth audience, much as they have done with films for the black community.

Those who have read the scripts say that the films tell essentially the same story and they note that screenwriter Floyd Mutrux has worked in the development of both scripts.

Universal’s “American Me” is the tale of Santana, an East Los Angeles barrio gang member who becomes the kingpin of the “Mexican Mafia” in the California prison system. Olmos not only directs the film but stars in the role of Santana and is co-producer and co-screenwriter.

“I want to show that there’s a cancer in this subculture of gangs,” Olmos said in a Los Angeles Times interview in September. “They’ll say, ‘You’ve taken away our manhood with this movie.’ I say to them, ‘Either you treat the cancer or it’ll eat you alive.’ ”

Olmos told a Latino awards gathering recently that the stark depiction of gang life will act as a deterrent to gang violence. Both Olmos and Hackford declined to be interviewed for this article.

Disney’s Hollywood Pictures’ “Blood In . . . Blood Out” chronicles “the story of three East L.A. cousins,” according to Hackford, but the movie’s principal focus is on the cousin who is sent to prison, where he befriends and later betrays the boss of the “Mexican Mafia” (played by E. J. Castillo) in San Quentin.

The filmmakers ran into gang-related repercussions, in which a drive-by shooting on the set left a 27-year-old caterer seriously wounded. In a bizarre twist, Arturo Jimenez, a 19-year-old gang member who returned to his Ramona Gardens barrio for a small part in “American Me,” was killed by a sheriff’s deputy this summer. Both productions hired veteran ex-gang members as extras and to provide access to gang turf. Community gang service workers were also hired for credibility and security.

The events surrounding these films haven’t gone unnoticed in the media or in the barrios, where Latino community activists are at odds with the approach Olmos and Hackford have taken in depicting gang violence.

Actress Alma Martinez, who unsuccessfully auditioned for roles in both films, said she doubts that she would have accepted a part after seeing the complete scripts. “It is not that they aren’t depicting Latinos in a real way,” Martinez said. “But shouldn’t we be creating images for the American public that don’t cause more separatism or racism?”

Raul Ruiz, a Chicano studies professor at Cal State Northridge, was also taken aback by the films’ violent subject. “When I heard Olmos was doing ‘American Me,’ I thought he was filming Beatrice Griffith’s book about Chicano life in the 1940s. Then I heard it was about the Mexican Mafia. So now we’ll have Mr. ‘Stand and Deliver’ shooting up the kids he taught.

“Eddie . . . has recognition and respect (after playing Escalante). It would be a crying shame if he’d destroy that, considering how our kids look up to him,” Ruiz said.

Father Gregory Boyle, who works with gang youths from his Mission Dolores Church in Boyle Heights--an area where scenes were shot for both films--noted that past gang movies have led to a rise in gang affiliation.

“When ‘Colors’ came out, the number of gangs (in his East Los Angeles area) went up from three to nine,” Boyle said. “These kids recite lines from both ‘Colors’ and ‘Boulevard Nights’ like chapter and verse. My concern is that these films will glamorize the outlaw life, instead of trying to lead kids to a future beyond that. A cautionary or ‘tough love’ approach doesn’t work with these kids. You have to show the complexity of why there are gangs.”

Several young gang members in Boyle’s parish who spoke to Nuestro Tiempo said gang movies rarely serve to deter gang membership or “change anything.”

A 16-year-old immigrant gang member voiced another point in Spanish. “Many times, the Police and the Sheriff’s (departments) come into the barrio and harass us for no reason. Those movies need to show that--instead of raza killing raza. “

Some community activists also charge that these films will only further stereotype Chicanos and the Latino community--a throwback to the late 1970s, when Hollywood briefly flirted with urban Chicano gang themes in Warner Bros.’ “Boulevard Nights” and Universal’s “Walk Proud.”

Danny De La Paz who has a crucial role in “American Me,” defended such depictions as valid. “My character of Chuco (in ‘Boulevard Nights’) is a cult figure in the barrio,” he said. “He gave voice and image to a type of kid that exists out there. They saw their brown faces up there on the screen, and they’ve never forgotten.

“Kids sometimes only see what they want to see. Anything up on the screen often becomes bigger than life,” he said. “That’s why I always try to point out to kids that Chuco died and his mother died too. Their deaths were senseless.”

Armando Duron, former president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition and an organizer of the recent Artes de Mexico Festival, is blunt in assessing the forthcoming films--and similar efforts.

“That there are gangs is about the only thing many people know about us,” Duron said. “Yet,” Duron continued, referring to the Hollywood film industry, “only when they want to portray evil, misfortune, or antisocial behavior, do they think of the Chicano barrios. We all know what happens to our brothers and sisters and cousins who live on the margin of acceptable society. What we often don’t see in the media, in movies, is what happens to those of us who venture out of the barrios and into the lion’s mouth of society.”

* MORE LATINO FILMS: Preview of films featuring Latinos in important roles. Page 3.