Reyna's subconscious is personified through the entire film by a character known only as "the Pachuco." Musical numbers and shots of an audience interspersed throughout the movie complete the effect.
CHICLE, located across from McDonald's on Franklin Street, was formed three years ago this month. It functions as both a nonprofit community organization and a for-profit language institute and is modeled after similar community language centers in Europe.
In addition to showing significant films, CHICLE offers a variety of language classes along with professional quality translation and interpretation services.
CHICLE's mission is to educate the community about cultural and language issues. Its free screening of "Zoot Suit" provided a look at Mexican-American culture that was both educational and entertaining.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.By Grey Huddleston
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Institute for Cultural and Language Education showed a film titled "Zoot Suit" on Sunday as part of its celebration of Hispanic culture during the month of October.
"Zoot Suit," released in 1981, was created by Hispanic playwright Luis Valdez. He wrote the film's screenplay -- an adaptation of one of his earlier plays -- and directed the picture.
The primary motive of "Zoot Suit" is to document an era of poor Mexican-American relations in the United States. It is set during the last years of World War II in Los Angeles and portrays the subculture of the "zoot suiters."
These were well-dressed Hispanic and black youths who became fixtures at nightclubs and dance venues in many cities around the nation. The sight of young minorities in flashy clothing out on the town often inflamed powerful whites in these areas.
The film is based on actual events and follows the life of "zoot suiter" protagonist Henry Reyna. Following an evening of dancing, Henry and his friends go out to a party where violence eventually breaks out.
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The young Reyna and three of his friends are charged -- unjustly -- with murder as the movie becomes partly a courtroom drama. It follows Reyna through a guilty verdict in his first trial, a sentence to San Quentin, a lengthy appeal process and eventual acquittal.
Reyna and his friends are assisted along the way by a friendly court-appointed lawyer and Alice, a labor representative from the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Although the movie initially appears lighthearted, it quickly becomes thick with moral questions. The racism inherent in the U.S. justice system during the 1940s is a key theme.
At one point the audience hears the prosecuting attorney claim, among other racist viewpoints, that Mexicans have an inborn desire to kill by stabbing -- a trait inherited from the Aztecs.
But the movie's most interesting feature is the way Valdez maintains the script's theatrical characteristics on the screen.
Reyna's subconscious is personified through the entire film by a character known only as "the Pachuco." Musical numbers and shots of an audience interspersed throughout the movie complete the effect.
CHICLE, located across from McDonald's on Franklin Street, was formed three years ago this month. It functions as both a nonprofit community organization and a for-profit language institute and is modeled after similar community language centers in Europe.
In addition to showing significant films, CHICLE offers a variety of language classes along with professional quality translation and interpretation services.
CHICLE's mission is to educate the community about cultural and language issues. Its free screening of "Zoot Suit" provided a look at Mexican-American culture that was both educational and entertaining.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
