Costalegre Community Message Board

A DONDE FUE JUAN JOSE? is a story of dreams destroyed - hopes crushed. It is a compelling tale of an all too typical immigration from Mexico to the United States.
http://www.archive.org/details/a_donde_ ... ose_2ndtry


Day is New, The
Life and daily activities of the residents of Mexico City. - 1942
http://www.archive.org/details/DayisNew1942


Felipa: North of the Border (1971)
A bilingual girl of Mexican-American parents has ambitions to be teacher. She gets early experience when she helps her uncle learn English so he can obtain a driver’s license for a new job.
Awards: Columbus Film Festival : ”Best Film in category”
Aired on CBS Children’s Film Festival
http://www.archive.org/details/felipa_n ... the_border

Forgotten Village (1941)
John Steinbeck
Burgess Meredith ... Narrator
A sociological study of the people, of a small pueblo in Santiago, in the remote mountains of Mexico, who have not caught up with modern civilization, as reflected in the life of a young boy, Juan Diego, and his family. A protest against the government and religion that keeps the peasants poor, uneducated and rooted to superstition and poverty.
http://www.archive.org/details/forgotten_village

Journey to Banana Land (1950)
United Fruit's paternalistic vision of Central America and its banana business
http://www.archive.org/details/Journeyt1950

Mexican Village Life (1958)
Here, Willard Hahn travels to the village of San Diego de Tecoltepec, 6 miles from Toluca. He focuses on the harvesting of maguey juice, the washing of clothes in-stream, and the town’s water cistern, as the village has no running water. The villagers board a beautiful old bus to take their goods to the nearby market in Toluca, and walk home to avoid paying the fare of several centavos
http://www.archive.org/details/afana_me ... llage_life

Salt Of The Earth (1954)
Tells the tale of a real life strike by Mexican-American miners. The story is set in a remote New Mexico town where the workers live in a company town in company owned shacks without basic plumbing. Put at risk by cost cutting bosses, the miners strike for safe working conditions. As the strike progresses the issues at stake grow beyond that, driven by the workers' wives. At first the wives are patronized by the traditional patriarchical culture, however they assert themselves as equals and an integral part of the struggle, calling for improved sanitation and dignified treatment. Ultimately, when the bosses win a court order against the workers preventing them from demonstrating gender roles reverse with the wives taking over the picket line and preventing scab workers from being brought in while the husbands stay at home and take care of house and children.

This film was selected for the National Film Registry in 1992 by the Library of Congress. It became public domain after its copyright was not renewed in 1982.

"Salt of the Earth" was produced, written and directed by victims of the Hollywood blacklist. Unable to make films in Hollywood they looked for worthy social issues to put on screen independently. This film never would have been made in Hollywood at the time, so it is ironic that it was the anti-communist backlash that brought about the conditions for it to be made. In many ways it was a film ahead of its time, mainstream culture did not pick up on its civil rights and feminist themes for at least a decade.
http://www.archive.org/details/salt_of_the_earth

"Salt of the Earth" is a powerful film and amazing story. Lots of the actors in it were participants in the strike. I used to own a copy of it, but I think I lent it to someone and never got it back. It will be great to get it online!

One of the Hollywood Ten - 2000 (the making of Salt of the Earth)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0234393/

It's been awhile so I should watch it again. Don't know if it's Grapes of Wrath quality but as powerfull. The movie 'One of the Hollywood Ten' is pretty good and I like Jeff Goldblum - explains the background well