June 2004 ARCHIVES of Andy's Life on
the Farm Shows
June 25th
A Day Without a Mexican
This is Andrew Griffin of Mariquita Farm with Life On The Farm. I just
saw a movie called A Day Without A Mexican. Born in East L.A., starring
comic Cheech Marin, is the only other movie that comes to mind to have
taken on the knotted issues of race, politics, interdependency, exploitation,
and shared history that color the U.S. relationship with Mexico. Cheech
is in this movie, too, but only in a photograph of yet another Chicano
celebrity who has disappeared.
That's the premiss of A Day Without A Mexican. A supernatural event
likened to the Rapture takes all Mexicans out of California and lifts
up a blinding fog around our borders. We who remain must become self
sufficient. Crops rot. Restaurants close for lack of staff. Latin lovers
leave gringa girlfriends grasping at empty air. Parts of this movie
are funny. Unlike Born In East L.A., A Day Without Mexicans doesn't
stay funny. There is anger on the surface in this film, and melodrama,
and farce.
There is preaching too. The film works best when it isn't telling,
but asking. How can we deport a teenager to Mexico who hasn't been there
since infancy? Why are we so dependent on migrant labor yet so unwilling
to give our helpers a legitimate status? Where are the politicians who
are honest enough to address our interdependence with Mexico? Who are
the voters that understand what it would really mean to have a day without
Mexicans? I'd be out of business. How about you? For K.U.S.P this is
Andrew Griffin.
copyright 2004 Andrew Griffin
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