Zoot Suit

Hey pod! Welcome to the third spoiler special in the ¡Presente! Latin Cinematic Heritage Series discussing the film, Zoot Suit (1981). Luis Valdez adapts his own stage production (the first Latin-American play on Broadway) into this striking film version. Edward James Olmos reprises his role from the stage as “El Pachuco,” the narrator of the film and the conscience of Henry Reyna (Daniel Valdez, also reprising his role). Alternating between past and present and stage and screen, the film tells the story of Henry, arrested for murder the day before he is to report for duty in World War II. Browbeaten by the police, Henry’s case is forced through the system while El Pachuco shows the events leading up to the fatal confrontation. Inspired by the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder trial and the 1943 Zoot Suit riots, Valdez’s work explores the lives of Mexican-Americans in a society that would just as soon discard them. The film is based on the true story of Henry Leydas and the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial. PBS SoCal produced a segment, La River’s Hidden History Revealed. It features a group of artists through a grant in East LA about paying homage to the young people who were wrongly thrown in jail for a murder that has yet to be solved and about the resistance and resilience that resides amongst the people in Sleepy Lagoon: https://youtu.be/5qLvXxyNU7M?si=hD3Mfq-LJrCRn-6u Back on the podcast tonight is Cuban American educator and artist, Jason Barber and Curator of Film Exhibitions at The Dryden Theatre, Jared Case. During our episode, we also mentioned American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez. We highly recommend that you watch this film to learn about the incredible director and activist behind the film, Luis Valdez. Many of the terms that we talked about are explained in great detail there and also how Luis got his start. You can watch it via PBS Passport here: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/american-pachuco-the-legend-of-luis-valdez/37507/ Wherever you’re listening from, hit that subscribe button, give us a 5-star rating, share this episode and leave a comment to let us know what you thought of tonight’s episode. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, & Threads. Visit ourvoicesproject.com and sign up for our newsletter for more information about what we do. We’ll be back with more spoiler specials from the ¡Presente! Latin Film Fest with The Addams Family: Family Values, which will be screening at The George Eastman Museum on Thursday, October 15 at 7:30pm. As a reminder, the screenings in this series are free and open to the public. Mentioned in this episode: Our Voices Project - Land Acknowledgement Common Thread Check out Common Thread on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/common-threads-hardcore/