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Yo soy Boricua, pa' que tu lo sepas! aka I'm Boricua, Just So You Know
R1 - America - IFC Films Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (24th May 2007). |
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The Film
 For those not fluent in Spanish, the title means 'I'm Boricua, Just So You Know'. A Boricua would be a person descended from the indigenous people, who called the island Borinquen. The island was renamed Puerto Rico by the Spanish once they controlled it. The movie, though, teaches us more than this. Directed by Rosie Perez (and helped out by co-director Liz Garbus), who's proud of her Puerto Rica heritage, the movie recounts Puerto Rico's history from the time of the Spanish conquest to the present (well, 2004 or so). Starting at the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York, the movie shows you various singers, artists and historians as they tell you the history of the small island. You learn of the Spanish invasion of the Tainos (the indigenous people), as well as the American takeover from the Spanish, and ultimately the bad things the American government has done to Puerto Rico and its citizens since the 1930s. The most troubling and immoral thing the US government pulled off, among many such things, is the sterilisation of women on the island to stop them from having children. The reasoning behind this was that the families were too poor to rear and educate the children. (You learn, though, that the citizens were poor because of what the US government did to the island.) The outcome of this was that, for a few years, schools were shut down because there weren't any first- and second-grade children left to teach! You learn that both the Spanish and Americans tried to assimilate Puerto Ricans, to try to erase their identity and meld them into their own. As you learn from personal experiences from Rosie Perez, her sister, her cousin and a few other people, is that this couldn't happen because cultural identity is strong in Puerto Ricans. Indeed, throughout the documentary, you hear personal stories and the history of the small island, and you get this overwhelming sense of identity, and search thereof. When people live in New York, for example, they're Puerto Rican, when they move to or visit Puerto Rico, they're American. In the army, they weren't white, and they weren't black. The documentary has a tone of trying to find out who Puerto Ricans really are, and it's an important thing to figure out. The personal experiences are nice and bring you closer to the participants. They show who Puerto Ricans are, but I don't know how representative it's supposed to be. The movie spends little actual time in Puerto Rico, and sometimes seeing Mrs. Perez and her sister goofing off or telling stories (not all, but some) is nice, but serves little purpose to the doc's intention. It also diffuses the focus, and you're left wondering where the doc is going and what it wants to say. When it sticks to facts and personal experiences, though, it's extremely persuasive. For a 90-year dependent of the US, there has been plenty to criticise: relocation of families, breach of civil rights, imprisonment and repression, and the list goes on. The talk of Pietro Albizu Campos and his life is fascinating and tragic. The movie serves as a criticism of the US government's actions in some middle eastern parts of the world, and, if I wish to be a bit more ambitious, colonialism in general. A lot of ground is covered in the running time, and the doc does a very good job telling you what happened to Puerto Rico, and who its people are.
Video
1.33:1 full screen. This seems to have been shot on DV, and so looks pretty good. There are no specks or other such blemishes. The picture is very nice, though doesn't looks completely clean. This wasn't shot in hi-def and it shows. The colours are good, though, and the contrast is nice. Nothing is too blown out or too dark, and there are no compression artifacts or things such as edge enhancement. For a documentary that played on IFC, it looks pretty good.
Audio
The only audio track is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track, helped out by optional Spanish subtitles. It's adequate for the movie and does a nice job. This being a documentary, there's not much to the sound other than the narration and the people talking. Luckily, the talk is clear and audible. There's some music, but other than that, there's really nothing to add. Rosie Perez and her voice are clear as day, Jimmy Smits' narration is clear and everything that should be heard, is heard.
Extras
The only extra is the 84-second trailer. It's a good setup for the movie. It gets your attention by giving you a very quick, but very concise, overview of the movie's main points. A very convincing and attention-grabbing trailer.
Overall
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