LA CARRETA / THE OXCART | |
Directed by José Garcia / Written by René Marqués | |
(Spanish,English subtitles), Color, 16mm, 27 min, 1970 | |
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The
first act of the play by the renowned Puerto Rican playwright René
Marqués is adapted for the PBS television series Realidades,
the first Latino series produced by public television. The family of don
Chago awaits the arrival of an oxcart that will take them to the capital.
While they prepare to leave, the elderly jibaro admonishes his daughter
doña Gabriela and grandson Luis that the land is where they belong.
But Luis already has plans to work in a factory. Through poignant exchanges,
a slice of Puerto Rican history is revealed: The displacement of the jibaro
by American agribusiness and his voluntary exile to the big cities of Puerto
Rico and, ultimately, New York in search of work. The final sequences strikingly
contrast the family entering a New York City tenement with their departure
from una casita del campo in Puerto Rico. |
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