Video Americain

Review

British director Loach, whose body of work has often focused on working people and issues of political and social struggles, ventures to Southern California to create an affecting humanistic drama whose politics could be accused of being somewhat simplistic but whose heart and candor could not. Maya (a striking Padilla) is a recent illegal Mexican immigrant who has moved in with her sister Rosa in Los Angeles. Maya gets a job as a janitor in the hi-rise office building where Rosa works. However, Maya soon becomes involved in an attempt to unionize the workers there, and is torn between Max (Brody), the American union organizer, and a Mexican coworker striving for a law degree. Loach captures the strong family life of Mexican-Americans while revealing an economic exploitation most Americans would rather ignore. Poignantly unmasking a face to a mostly faceless work force, Loach delivers a tense, involving story of people searching for a piece of the elusive American Dream. (English and Spanish with English subtitles)