El Norte

The first part of the film takes place in the tiny village of San Pedro in Guatemala. Enrique and Rosa are two young Indian peasants who live in the village with their parents. Their father, Arturo, is a member of a secret group seeking to overthrow the dictatorial regime in the area. However, soldiers raid a meeting of this group, kill Arturo, and hang his decapitated head in a tree. As a result of this circumstance, Enrique kills a soldier, thus becoming a fugitive from the law. After his mother is arrested, Enrique and his sister Rosa decide to flee to the north, where they imagine America to be a dreamland of opportunity. In the second part of the film, the youngsters manage to make their way to Tijuana, Mexico, where they start looking for a "coyote" to hel

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and imagery. The focus of the film is on the personal development of the characters Enrique and Rosa. Thus, "there's no propaganda in the movie, just visual poetry, suspense and emotional force" (O'Brien 211-212). The main characters of the film are all representative of particular social groups. Some represent white American society, and others represent various aspects of Latino society as seen in America, Mexico, and Guatemala. Of course, the cultural focus is on the Central American immigrants as depicted in the characters of Rosa and Enrique. The narrative of the film follows their trials and tribulations as they escape from a hostile regime in their homeland and work their way across the border into the United States. Once in the United States, the film continues to depict the special hardships of the Central American refugee. The .young refugees are shown encountering the difficulties of working illegally in America, where they work hard for little pay and are constantly faced with the possibility of an Immigration Board raid. In the beginning of the film, Enrique and Rosa are representative of the simple life of their Guatemalan village. In America, they become representative of the struggling illegal immigrant.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3005
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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