El Norte (1983), or The North, follows the story of two indigenous Mayan siblings looking for a new life in the United States after ethnic and political persecution brought on by the Guatemalan Civil War decimates their home. Terrible working conditions for the native people under the strict control of governing bodies forces the village to attempt to organize. The Guatemalan army murders the people involved in a secret meeting which includes Arturo Xuncax. In the following hours, his wife Lupe is arrested, and their teenage children Enrique and Rosa are determined to escape their impending death by the army by illegally crossing the US-Mexico border.
Film poster for “El Norte”
The film portrays a fictional, yet very true, perspective that most people cannot see. The struggles and motives of immigration as seen in works like El Norte and The Leavers by Lisa Ko are hard to come by. El Norte visualizes racism and classism in Latin America and the United States. For example, Enrique and Rosa experience “Othering” long before leaving their village. The native people of Guatemala are called “Indians” derogatorily and are forced to work on farms under the control of harsh foremen. The two siblings must overcome racism in their home and subsequent journey through Mexico. They encounter unsavory characters in Tijuana who try to rob them and kill them. However, they eventually manage to cross the border into California. Their encounter with Othering increases exponentially after their first look at the lights and cars of San Diego.
In Los Angeles, their worth as humans is measured by their skin, work skills, work ethic, and ability to speak English. They work hard to learn a new language, run from immigration officials, work for pennies, and compete for work. Their identities as native Guatemalans is less than that of the Mexican immigrant or the Mexican-American (Chicano). Rosa and Enrique begin to learn that the American Dream is harder on their lives and physical body than they were told. They do not belong in their home village, poverty-stricken Mexico, or the United States. Without a social security number or a “green card,” Rosa is denied medical care for Typhoid she developed by the sewers they used to cross the border. Her illness inhibits Enrique from taking a job in Chicago that offers the opportunity to gain residency and eventually citizenship.
El Norte helps those on the other end of the conversation on immigration understand the motives and lives of those who illegally immigrate. Immigration systems, systemic racism, classism, and many other factors plague the lives of many in various regions. Immigrants make the journey to the USA to escape these factors. However, these same issues are heightened once they arrive. The interactions in the film prompt the audience to question the reasons behind immigration and if they themselves are contributing to these harsh realities. Are you the patron of the restaurant in which Enrique must run from immigration? Are you the consumer who wears clothes from the sweatshop that Rosa makes 30 cents per garment? El Norte helps us question how power, identity, and injustice function throughout the world in ways that contribute to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s idea and danger of a “single story.”