The Blue Diner

I have just seen "La Fonda Azul" (The Blue Diner) on PBS. Since I live in Massachussetts, and this film was shot in Boston, I had heard about it obliquely in the "Arts" section of the newspaper.

I am glad I took the time to see it. What struck me about it is that it presents the life of Hispanic immigrants in a way I have not seen before, it is not cliched in either direction (one being the R rated action movie treatment of Latinos, the other being the syrupy blandness of sitcom "Latino" families.)

It has characters that, in my eyes, reflect real struggles of cultural identity, and of living in the present without forgetting the past.

What I also found interesting about it is that other "fish out of water" can identify with the characters, not just Hispanics. (Just ask anybody originally from the deep South now living in New England, for example...)