BIOPIC CESAR CHAVEZ TRIUMPHS THROUGH NONVIOLENCE
When Cesar Chavez (played by Michael Peña) was 11, he was an exploited grape picker in Delano, California, but he left for Los Angeles to learn about community organizing. When he returned, he had a vision of how to liberate farm workers, as portrayed in Cesar Chavez, directed by Diego Luna. He made little headway until he decided to promote a consumer boycott of grapes, focusing first on one winery and then another, including Chavez’s hunger strike. Although he received help from Robert Kennedy, the villains are not just the wine growers, who used brutal tactics, but also Governor Ronald Reagan and President Richard Nixon. Nevertheless, the boycott—carried all the way to Europe—worked, and wine growers capitulated. The step-by-step process is eloquently portrayed, including the capitulation of wine growers, one in particular played by John Malkovich. The Political Film Society has nominated Cesar Chavez as best film of 2014 in four categories—democracy, exposé, human rights, and peace. MH