American Me Movies, Examination Of A Latino Gang

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American Me movies
American Me movies present a powerful and startling examination of a Latino gang. The movie presents the themes of prejudice and hopelessness. Edward James Olmos's "American Me does not glorify crime, but presents the vicious cycle of crime (Barraran-Bigalondo 4). The film tells the story of the main character's point of view. Santana is portrayed as a victim of circumstances, his parent's experience of violence and the time he spends in prison shows how gang violence affects young people making it a vicious cycle (Barraran-Bigalondo 5).
America Me presents a story of how a Mexican Mafia gang emerged in California prisons. The film, directed by Edward James Olmos shows the brutal life in prison. The film is based on real stories of Mexican Mafia beginning with scenes of Zoot Suit Riots of Los angles that occurred between American sailors and the local Hispanic citizens (Barraran-Bigalondo 5). The film narrows down to one teenager Santana and his friends who find themselves in the wrong place and are arrested by the police (Barraran-Bigalondo 3). While in juvenile Santana, undergo horrific experiences, including rape and murder. Santana is later transferred to Folsom state prison after turning 18 years (Barraran-Bigalondo 3).
The director focuses more on prison life with ruthless scenes of violence. When Santana is released, he tries not fit in the society and lives a normal life while outside the prison, but his friends try to pull him back to the street life that made him go to prison (Robles 36). The film presents gang violence in East Los Angeles to highlight the forces that perpetuate violence from generation to generation (Robles 36). The director uses one character, Santana following through his early life and how he later lived his life within the same neighborhood. Using flashback the audience can understand Santana‘s background (Robles 36).
The film presents how the US government treated ethnic minorities. One of the scenes shows Santana's Hispanic father being assaulted by sailors and her mother raped. These are some of the painful events that push Santana toward crime (Robles 43). The voice-over narration of the events is presented like rhymes, for example, "It was easy to blame my father for everything I did -- isn't that the life of every kid?" he says about Santana's teenage years. "Thought I knew it all," he goes on. "Ended up in juvie hall." (Robles 41). The voice-over dialogues are soft-spoken rhymes that set a gloomy tone of the entire film. The poetry sounds make the ...