CineCulture film explores reality of no Latino population

Associated Press

“A Day Without a Mexican,” CineCulture’s latest film, filled every seat on Friday night in the Peters Education Center. The film explores the reality of what California would be like if the state’s Mexican population, 14 million people in total, ceased to exist.

The film opens with in a fog enveloping the borders of California, causing any communication in or out of the state to be impossible. One by one, all the people with a Latino background vanish. The fog leaves their cars running, leaf blowers still blowing and a void in the state.

The movie revolves around two different stories, one a Caucasian lady whose husband and son disappear, and a woman named Lila Rodriguez, who should have disappeared but didn’t. Rodriguez is seen as the “missing link” and perhaps the answer to the missing people lies with her, as she is the only Mexican still there.

Panic sets in as people storm the grocery stores to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, since there is no one to work in the state’s fields. Latino teachers, who make up a quarter of teachers in California, disappear. Restaurants that employ Mexican cooks and waiters close, and garbage litter the streets of Los Angeles. It seems to some an apocalypse has begun.

Sergio Arau, the film’s director, did an excellent job of poking at the issues surrounding illegal immigration and the concerns of how Mexicans are perceived in California, but did so in a comical way.

The film also illustrated the view of many Californian’s attitudes: If California’s Mexican population disappeared, not only would the state lose out on the jobs those Latinos have, but the rich culture they brought would be lost.

The film itself spoke to conservative attitudes towards Latino workers in the state. Needless to say, the character’s attitudes towards those who disappeared change, something Arau wanted to portray.