Dirt (from the Chicago Latino Film Festival 2003)

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HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id959.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id959.htm"><U><B>Latino</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id1658.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id1658.ht"><U><B>New York City</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> Dirt (from the Chicago Latino Film Festival 2003)</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 25 WIDTH="588"><div> ****</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="588"><div> <A HREF="mailto:leeshoquist@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:leeshoquist@aol.com"><U><U>Reviewed by Lee Shoquist</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> There's no point in denying that this country's great cities run on the backs of illegal workers, however you feel about the issue of immigration.  They live here.  They pay taxes.  They have families.  They run your hotels.  They paint your house.  They serve your food.  They press your shirts.  They're not going away.  Get used to it.  </div> <bR> <div> "You don't smile enough," a character tells downtrodden Dolores (Julietta Ortiz, in a strong performance) after she loses a precious job in <B>Dirt</B>, Nancy Savoca's riveting new family drama about undocumented immigrants living a hand-to mouth existence in contemporary Manhattan.   </div> <bR> <div> An El Salvadoran immigrant who has lived in the US with her jobless husband and teenage son for a decade at least, chasing the American Dream of making enough money to have a good life, the film makes it painfully clear that such a pursuit is not limited to natives of this country.     </div> <bR> <div> She spends her time as a maid to the wealthy and privileged, serving clients on Manhattan's Upper East Side, worked to the bone and with little to show for it.  Her husband is out of work.  Her teenaged son is Americanized, though still undocumented, and disinterested in returning to "his" country - a land he's never known. </div> <bR> <div> The film meticulously traces Dolores' unfortunate circumstances as they spiral into a series of lost jobs, no money, no papers and slim to no future opportunities.  But she still has her human dignity, and she dreams of the house she's having built in El Salvador, and how the family will return home one day, prosperous and ready to begin a new life in a country where they are no longer "invisible."  </div> <bR> <div> There has never been an American film so vividly detailing the plight of undocumented workers living in America today.  If you're smart, you realize that immigrants today, many of whom are in terrible situations like Dolores - unable to work for anything but cash, get proper ID, travel home to visit relatives, vote or be counted, constantly afraid of being forcibly ripped from their families by INS - compose an integral part of our culture, economy and fabric of this country.  </div> <bR> <div> Unsentimental<B> Dirt,</B> with its headstrong and proud character of Dolores, smart beyond her circumstances and in a fairer situation would be a force to reckon with, is a great experience at the movies.  Rarely has a modern film made a "small" life so luminous.  In an age where a studio exec told Salma Hayek he could never cast her in a lead because "people don't want to be reminded of their maid when they go to the movies," thank goodness co-writer/director Savoca felt a completely dissimilar sentiment.   </div> <bR> <div> What's most special about this film aside from the fact that it's a labor of love and feeling for Savoca and company, who obviously know their characters intimately and probably many real-life counterparts - is the degree to which it puts characters normally found on the periphery of most films up front and center.  This is an urgent film, and the way it gives a microscopic glimpse into the underclass with such uncommon feeling is reminiscent of the great poets of the working class, the British kitchen-sink directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.  </div> <bR> <div> Shot on digital video and appropriately so given the small scale and intimacy of the material, Dirt is a moving film.  You know someone just like Dolores.  Even if you don't immediately see her.  </div> <bR> <div> Highly recommended. </div> <div>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> 90 Minutes</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> Not Rated</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> Profanity</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="621" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> <B>Lee Shoquist © 2003</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> <A HREF="mailto:leeshoquist@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:leeshoquist@aol.com"><U><U>Leeshoquist.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>