Indian, Latin and Italian directors make the best movies since they have compassion and empathy for the human kind as opposed to the human rats in the emergency rooms, who rather see the woman dead than another illegal but productive immigrant, without whom the economy will collapse (they treat the Green Card rather than a human being and they are agents of the immigration than graduates of medical school-the scumbags of modern day medicine. The doctor is shown as more caring, but both the nurse and the doctor were merciless lowlifes that should be doing autopsy on dead bodies). These scums have no ethics or compassion, and they are worse than the rats in the sewer line. As the sister Rosita says in "Gauntemala you get killed, in Mexico it is poverty and in America you are not free." Gregory Nava, who made one of the most poignant movies like "Selena" is better director than this over-hyped Spielberg and this movie should have won awards. The movie shows depths of despair and the great escape to freedom, only to realize that the roads in the land of liberty, are not paved with gold, in fact there are no roads but the poor immigrants have to build the roads, if they ever make it beyond the "coyotes" and the paranoid and homicidal border agents.

This is a milestone and arguably the best film made during the 1980s. Ranks right alongside the great social-realism films "Ladri di biciclette," "The Grapes of Wrath," and "Salt of the Earth." Relevant when it was released and now even more relevant 25 years after its initial release. Top-notch script, photography, editing, and superb acting. But the story and issues are the most important aspects. It's now available on a Criterion DVD with 2 discs, one with the film and one with extras including a "making-of" program and a printed booklet. What are you doing spending any more time reading this. Go get this film and watch it today. This is a landmark achievement.

The oppression of immigrants is without question.....by coyotes, federals, etc. up to and including the employers in the USA who exploit the illegal immigrants who, for the most part, want little more than a chance to have a better life.The biggest issue for me with EL NORTE was the time line. In the time it takes Enrique and Rosa to learn English well enough to get work and such...and to converse in fairly idiomatic ways........her disease is --what?----waiting to erupt? The bites were not the same day as her fever, right? Also, the acting was wooden to the point of "community theater is better" especially on the part of the gringos---from the Border Patrol guys to the Chicago woman......And...would two Spanish speaking people talk to each other in English when communicating complex ideas such as best chance, green card, etc. as the scene at the motel with Enrique and the "arranger?" There are many good and great movies out there about the perils of immigration, oppression and so forth--and THIS one got the Oscar nomination? Again..a good concept.

I wrote this review after viewing the film in my Spanish class. I turned this into the teacher for extra credit.El Norte, the north. A film made under a limited budget and by a director with limited talents. No offense to the director or actors, who obviously but their heart into the story, but directors of the 1920s silent era have managed to pull off more genius and drive emotions deep into the human soul better than this movie has ever done. Now, I don't expect everyone to be a Cecil B. DeMille or a Steven Spielberg, but this director needs to take a crash course in cinematography.I find what ruined it was self-indulgent directing. Not so much the story or the meaning, but the direction itself. The close-ups weren't saved for dramatic effect, and he did not take advantage of them at the appropriate time. The music was ill-chosen. A new score may not have been available, but better soundtracks could obviously have been used in place. Nothing ruins a potentially breathtaking scene like music that comes straight out of a commercial.Now, I realize the whole point behind the story; that illegal immigrants suffer a lot of trauma when trying to cross the border. I'm for helping everyone achieve the American Dream as much as the next guy, but the way they go about it was ill-advised. Sure, if they went through customs there would be a lot of bureaucracy and papers to fill out, as well as years before one became a citizen, but it would have saved them a lot of time, stress, and even their lives Whether or not the filmmakers wanted to accomplish instilling pro illegal-immigration theories is not relevant, and that does not detract from the film's potential entertainment value. When looking at it from an entertainment standpoint, it really is a moving film. No matter what is ruined by directing and unnatural camera angles and sloppy acting, there still is a storyline behind the mess. Oppressive regimes, murdered parents, cheating trail guides, selfish employers, friendly comrades… it's all in there. It may not be Gone with the Wind, but there is a heart in the midst of it all.The hodge-podge of languages (Mayan, Spanish, and English) made it confusing. Who was who? What was what? I started to shift in my seat from discomfort. Then there were the seemingly random additions, like the voices that just spontaneously began speaking from seemingly no where, and without utilizing "oil on the lenses" or "fog". It made it too hard to distinguish reality from fantasy in the film. Then there was the strange head hanging from a tree in the final cut of the film; what was the point of that? Whose head was it? Films of the foreign market range from masterpieces to be placed on the shelf beside Casablanca and My Fair Lady to works of utter mediocrity. This film, unfortunately, is dangling on the fringe of that character. What saves it is the heart that the film holds in its grasp, underneath all the swearing and bad makeup. The 80s hairstyles and cars are evident, as are those sprinklers and washing machines that could only be found in a junkyard nowadays. The movie is dated, has some entertainment value, but could have so much more going for it if the director paid attention to detail instead of trying to make an "arty picture."