MOVIE REVIEW : ‘the earth’ Revolves Around a Moving Spiritual Odyssey

Severo Perez’s film of Tomas Rivera’s “ . . . and the earth did not swallow him” is as sincere and earnest as the Mexican American family it depicts with such love and respect. Although the film, which is based on a classic Chicano novel, could use more of a sense of style and pace, it is nevertheless an affecting experience, beautifully photographed and illuminating the hard lives of a small Texas community of migrant farm workers who regularly follow the harvest to Minnesota.

Set in the early ‘50s with an impeccable sense of time and place, it is an epic story of survival in which family, communal life and the church are the great, sustaining forces and the source of whatever comfort and joy life brings. It is also a spiritual odyssey for a 12-year-old boy, Marcos Gonzales (Jose Alcala), clearly Rivera’s alter ego, a testing of his faith.

Marcos’ parents (Rose Portillo, Marco Rodriguez) are as loving as they are naive. They visit a curandera , or psychic, to be reassured of the fate of their elder son, missing in action in Korea, and they are duped into spending $30 they can ill-afford on a fancy 3-D reworking of the only photograph of him as a soldier.

The crucial episode in a year of Marcos’ experiences sounds Dickensian in its grimness, but it’s played with an unexpected humor that gives the entire film a kick. In a Minnesota town, the Gonzales decide to leave Marcos in the care of the local Chicano baker Don Cleto (Sam Vlahos) and his wife, the flashy, plump Dona Rosa (Lupe Ontiveros), so that he can stay in school (where he’s promptly expelled for defending himself against bigoted bullies).

Don Cleto and Dona Rosa, figures of dauntless hypocrisy and shameless guile, seem straight out of “Sweeney Todd” or “The Red Inn.” They exploit Marcos outrageously but are figures of such gleeful evil that you have to laugh at them; the always-wonderful Ontiveros, wisest of comedians, exudes a vitality that is otherwise too often lacking in the film.

” . . . and the earth did not swallow him” may have been too ambitious a debut feature for Perez, a maker of documentaries and educational films, as it needs more shaping than he has brought to it. But he has drawn good performances from his cast, especially from the reflective, intensely focused young Alcala, and has painted a clear picture of what migrant farm workers have chronically had to endure in regard to discrimination, injustice and abysmal living and working conditions.

While it’s easy enough to envision a telling of Rivera’s story that would have had greater impact, it’s also important not to lose sight of the fact that Perez deserves credit for both doing as good a job as he has--and for tackling such a significant project in the first place.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: in its depiction of the hardships endured by a family the film is too intense and unsparing for children.

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’. . . and the earth did not swallow him’ Jose Alcala: Marcos Gonzales Rose Portillo: Florentina Gonzales Marco Rodriguez: Joaquin Gonzales Lupe Ontiveros: Dona Rosa Sam Vlahos: Don Cleto Daniel Valdez: Bartolo the Poet A Kino International release of a production of KPBS and Severo Perez Films, presented by American Playhouse Theatrical Films, with major funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Writer-director Severo Perez. Based on the novel by Tomas Rivera. Producer Paul Espinosa. Executive producers Lindsay Law, Espinosa. Cinematographer Virgil Harper. Editor Susan Heick. Costumes Yvonne Cervantes. Music Marcos Loya. Production designer Armin Ganz. 1 hour, 41 minutes.

* In an exclusive, limited run at the New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd. (213) 938-4038.