Cesar Chavez

2014 "History is made one step at a time."
Cesar Chavez
6.4| 1h42m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 28 March 2014 Released
Producted By: Canana
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A biography of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez. Chronicling the birth of a modern American labour movement, Cesar Chavez tells the story of the famed civil rights leader and labour organiser torn between his duties as a husband and father and his commitment to securing a living wage for farm workers. Passionate but soft-spoken, Chavez embraced non-violence as he battled greed and prejudice in his struggle to bring dignity to working people.

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D E This movie covers so much really intense stuff, so quickly, it's almost hard to sink your teeth into. It's a great way to get a quick and easy understanding of the real events that happened in California and how Cesar came to play such an important role. I wish the film had actually been longer, with more time to develop the depth of characters and the layers of issues. But just like Chavez was in life -- a humble man who didn't want all the attention on himself -- this movie is also like that. It's a humble movie with no big stars, and it doesn't try to be big and glamorous or spectacular. It just tries to tell what happened. And the facts are more interesting than anything Hollywood could add. So some have criticized it for feeling too much like a documentary, but that's what I really liked about it. It felt like it was just what happened, and not some big Hollywood version of it. I would have just liked to have lingered in the smallness of it longer. And I wish they went on to tell about the rest of the life of this amazing, unlikely, understated hero. I hope for a sequel, or another go at it that captures more of the spirit of the man and the movement, as well as the events. But definitely see this one!
Tony Heck "If we show the world their abuse, greed and brutality then our voice will be heard and responded to." After being raised and working in the fields since he was 8 Cesar Chavez (Peña) has seen enough of the abuse of the workers. After realizing nothing was going to change on its own he decides to step up and become a leader. His goal is to form a union and get every worker an honest wage. What seems like an easy thing to do is met with resistance from almost everyone. His non-violent protests slowly begin to become embraced by not only his fellow workers but American citizens as well. Going in to this movie I knew next to nothing about the real man. My favorite genre of movie is the biopic, it's almost better (for me) to not know as much about the person that way not only am I not expecting anything but I am also not disappointed when they leave things out. I say all that because I can't speak to how accurate the movie is but what I can say is that I really enjoyed this. Not only is the movie very well made and acted it is also inspiring and you really become angry watching what the company he is protesting against does to discredit and discount his stance. Again I can't speak to how accurate the movie is but what the movie does do is inspire and make you wonder why the corporate heads waited so long to even talk to him. That said it also makes you wonder if this happened today if the reactions would be the same. Without getting too political my guess would be yes. Corporate greed never goes away, it only grows. Overall, a great and inspiring movie that is one of the better biopics of the last few years. I give this a high B+.
David Hernandez Firstly, I disagree with the external critic reviews that bring the overall rating of the film down very much. Unfortunately, these are the criticisms that will keep Hollywood from investing in future endeavors that symbolize the Latino/Social Justice/Consciousness-Inducing narratives that the public desperately needs. I work in the immigrant social justice movement and I work closely with a lot of farm worker justice orgs, including Chavez's UFW. I understand that there are contexts missing and that there were a lot of things at stake during that particular movement, but I'm more aware of the fact that it would be hard for the general public and the folks that really need to go and watch this film to understand the greater context and be moved by the politics that plagued the social advocates and continue to plague our movement today. I also took my Spanish-speaking, first generation immigrant family to watch this film. They are not involved in any of my work but some of them have worked on the fields as guest workers, etc. I was glad to see that they were moved and even brought to tears by the simplicity of the film and that they appreciated that someone was acknowledging their struggle. At the end of the day, the film was entertaining, well acted, and it served its purpose to educate and inspire people like my family.
bbickley13-921-58664 I don't know much about Caesar Chavez. the only thing I knew for sure was that he fought for union rights during the Civil rights movement and that he went on a hunger strike for this reason. Now, I'm not the one to use a movie as a history lesson but I figure the part of about him leading his workers on work strike for 5 years to achieve a better union for Farmers and starting a credit union for them must be correct. Since the movie is named after the man himself, that's what it should focus on more, the man himself.In what was a big career move for Micheal Pena his performance as the great Chavez was so-so. maybe this is what the filmmakers wanted in order to portray how just an ordinary man changed so many lives. However, Pena's presence on the big screen was not big enough. Of what should have been an inspiring story , I felt no inspiration. It just was not strong enough to convince me to rise up ageist anyone. Unlike the two movies that came out last year about Nelson Mandela, in comparison to Idris Elba, whose performance was strong and demanding to Terrence Howard, whose version of Mandela was not even the focal point of the movie Winnie Mandela, just made me believe in a cause that, I will admit, thought I knew about but really did not.I'll give the movie an A for effort as I'm sure their are not many films about this important figure in American History and hope that the next person doing his story in a movie will find someone a little more convincing.