Not growing up in the 60's (actually being born in 77), I don't have too much of an idea of what happened during these times with the exception of what my parents had told me while growing up. It was interesting to see a lot of it played out on screen.
Growing up in L.A. in the time that I did though and watching this movie showed me that not much has changed. I went to schools in three distinctive area. I attended in private schools, Inner city schools and in nice suburban areas and can tell you there is a significant difference in teaching styles. It is too bad that such a movement did not change that. May I add that I do not believe it is the teachers fault, it has to do with the funds that each area receives.
I feel that some of the people commenting on film have seen it or are commenting on it with a certain "bad vibe" mindset to begin with. I have seen people comment saying it was only Mexican-American or Chicano's leaving the schools, wanting to ditch or etc. That no one else was part of the Walkouts. Which leads me to the following questions; 1. If you were not part of the walkouts (I am assuming this because you say only Mexican-Americans were part of the walkouts) how do you know exactly who attended? 2. How can you tell who is Central American, South American, Mexican? It has been said that the media was not allowed to air certain footage with that being the case, please don't tell me that you got this information through the media.
People on this forum have also stated that the walkouts were a waste of time that because things are the same there was no just cause for them. Would you say the same of the Anti-War Protests of then and now? I mean, we still have wars.
Though in your mind, maybe these walkouts meant nothing or the causes have not changed anything now, they changed thing's then. For those people and to those people it mattered. You may say, "No one that they interviewed became a Lawyer or Doctor, etc. so what were they fighting for?", They were fighting for the education to allow them to advance in whatever path they chose.
I see people put this film down because it is not the way they recalled it and that no one should glamorize this because it was a chance for gang youth to ditch school. Again, if you weren't there how do you know who attended? Every protest and every following has a few bad apples that ruin it for all, it's human nature. Does human nature make their actions acceptable? No, but it is there. (Let's remember the people who bombed SUV dealerships, as I recall they consider themselves Environmentalist and I have seen them only point out White Americans in these cases).
Let us see this film as an educational film. Something to show us a part of history through someone else's eyes. Not butcher the film because of it's message, lighting, acting, writing, etc.
At one point in my life I had someone tell me that she felt sorry for my generation. That I lived in a time where my generation had as many things to deal with, in different forms, as her generation of the 60's and we did not protest. We would just sit around and wait for the problems to resolve themselves. (BTW she was white not Hispanic or of Hispanic descent) If you disagree with the film, that is your opinion and accepted as we are in (technically) the land of the free. You have free speech, use it. Who know's you may direct, write or star in the next best film representing your ideas and how you see the world at hand.
Final words, Watch Rashômon by Akira Kurosawa. It is a film used in Law Schools (the ones where I have attended) to show different points of view.
Remember there are always 4 stories to tell, Your Story, Their Story, The Witness Story and the Truth.
