Last night Donna and I went to the Orange AMC and watched this great new documentary about Luis Valdez, and every minute of the 93 minutes was priceless. It’s only got two more showings there, TONIGHT, at 7:45 PM and 10:35 PM. So what are you waiting for, get your tickets HERE before it’s too late!
Have you heard of Luis Valdez? He’s most famous for writing/directing Zoot Suit in the 80’s and La Bamba in the 90’s, but that’s just a fraction of it. I’d been following him as a playwright since the Teatro Campesino – my first wife starred in one of his plays in Texas, entitled “I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges!” and I’d sometimes see his surrealistic takeoffs on Latino traditions like The Posadas featured on PBS.
This star-studded film features Edward James Olmos, Lou Diamond Phillips, Cheech Marin, and Dolores Huerta, with cameos by Mick Jagger and Little Richard! I didn’t realize till last night that the iron-fisted (and now radioactive) labor leader Cesar Chavez had kicked Luis and his Teatro out of the farmworkers union movement for having too much fun and being too RASQUACHE!
Rasquache or Rasquachismo was an important word we learned from the film: I see AI knows it though, according to whom it is a Chicano cultural aesthetic, a resourceful survival attitude, and a working-class perspective that means making the most from the least.
The Core Characteristics of Rasquachismo:
- Bold Style: Favoring bright colors, rich textures, and an exuberant, flamboyant look over simple or severe designs.
- Resourcefulness: Making things with whatever materials are close at hand, such as reusing coffee cans as flower pots or turning scraps into art.
- The Underdog View: A resilient perspective from los de abajo (those at the bottom) that turns economic and social limits into creative power.
So yes, David Alvarado’s film was muy rasquache. And it also covered several tragic episodes of late 20th century California history – the 1970 LAPD killing of Ruben Salazar at the Chicano Moratorium in East LA (my buddy Agustin Huerta from the Democrats Club was there when that happened AND he was there with his wife Camelia last night);
and the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots (which really shouldn’t be called “riots” as it was just white racist Navy boys beating up Chicanos – just like Little People’s Park Riot of 1978 shouldn’t be called a riot when it was just Anaheim cops beating up Mexicans.) But moving on, here’s another trailer…)
Donna’s favorite part was the archival footage of all the little campesino kids staring in awe at their first experience of theater. And Luis’ Vietnam-era play depicting a Chicano who gets drafted and refuses to kill the Asians who look more like him than the folks who sent him do that. And Luis’ depictions of “VENDIDOS” (partly exaggerated version of his big brother) who try to pass in the white world and forget their roots.
Camelia grew up in those Central California towns in the late 60s and 70s, picking crops with her parents, and all that archival footage really took her back. Her husband Agustin was 8 years old in East LA when the Chicano Moratorium and Salazar killing happened – he hopped on his bike and watched all the LAPD assaults and burning buildings. He got a real tongue-lashing from his worried parents when they got home. He didn’t know who Ruben was but his dad did – he was on TV and wrote for the Herald-Examiner, and had been writing about police corruption at the time so it was hard for people to believe his killing was an accident. At school, Agustin’s teachers (all but one of em white) told them to be careful and stay away from these Chicano trouble makers. “But WE WERE FIRED UP,” says Agustin, and this was the beginning of Chicano Power, fighting for a better education and against the meat-grinder of a war.
Donna, Agustin and Camelia all loved how the film used Luis Valdez’ life and career as a vantage point to tell a panoramic story of California history. And have you got your tickets yet? TIME’S A WASTING!
Director David Alvarado and Victor Payan of MASA (Media Arts Santa Ana), in front of last night’s audience.
There’s Agustin & Camelia from the Anaheim Democrats Club standing at the right,
the Pachuco’s linen jacket poking out from behind David’s hat, and Vern & Donna seated behind him.
