ReaderKenka
Let's be realistic.
Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
bmacneel
I had trouble even giving this movie a 4. I'm really confused as to why everyone loves this movie. First of all, the poetry thing was terrible. It's a superficial attempt at giving the gangster protagonist an "artistic side". In this way, we're immediately supposed to love him and pray for his transformation. This type of thing should be developed in a plot and not just thrown in as a device. Having him reflect his life through rhymes doesn't give a character depth, it just reveals the intentions of the filmmaker. The rhymes stop once the subject becomes trickier, but that's where the real poetry should begin. There is a difference between simply manipulating the audience and revealing details to them over a period of time.Moreover, the film lacks creativity with known plot standards. Extremely brutal scenes with a protagonist we're supposed to sympathize with. In an apocalyptic finale, our Christ figure sacrifices himself for the good of future generations; future generations who rebuke him and commit the same sins. Thus, the endless cycle of violence ensues. It's the tale of every gangster film and I'm not saying the cookie-cutter is bad; I'm just begging for creativity when one approaches the cookies. Scorsese did it with style. He gave us the option to sit as outside viewers and judge our character for his actions. Jack Lamotta's poetry was terrible, but Scorcese knew that. Tarantino gave us strange dynamic characters and off the wall dialog.One can't just take a genre and reproduce it with Mexican characters and nothing more creative than Spanglish and expect the film to be a success. One can't even expect it to be a proper portrayal of Mexican-American crime culture. Human beings are more complex than this.That being said, gangster films are tough this day in age. I'm always slightly skeptical because the filmmaker has to be original, or it will be a flop like this film.
tnrcooper
"American Me" is a story of the growth of strength in the Mexican mafia during the 1970s and 1980s. It tracks the development of some of the key figures from their earliest days running the streets and coming into conflict with the authorities to the period in which the Mexican mafia developed great influence in the California penal system and on the streets of California influencing the drug trade. The film is based on a true story and tracks some of the same ground covered by "Blood In, Blood Out" which was released a year later. It works in flashback, from the later thoughts of director and star Edward James Olmos as Santana. The film is told as a flashback as advice given to his nephew to avoid the gang life which he has embarked on.This is gut-check cinema. It's not for the faint of heart. The acting is excellent from Olmos as gang leader Santana and his right-hand man JD (William Forsythe). Olmos plays Santana as extremely world-weary. One can see in Santana's face the toll that his time in prison and role in La Primera (the Mexican mafia) has taken. William Forsythe is fantastic, playing JD very low-key and as committed to the Mexican mafia as Santana, so much so that perhaps he forgets he is not Mexican at times! The intra-gang and interracial conflicts are powerfully and graphically portrayed. Nothing is held back in depicting what happens in jail but it has the ring of truth and ultimately, if one wrongs one's gang, one will be held accountable by that gang.This movie really deserves mention along with great gang movies like Goodfellas, The Godfather, and Boyz in the Hood, for its no-hold-barred depiction of the brutality and cheapness of life, but also the brotherhood and sense of identity gained within a gang.
tmcclus
"American Me" is arguably the most significant film not discussed in the same breath with crime epics such as "The Godfather." It was clearly made, both consciously and perhaps subconsciously to be the Mexican Godfather film and that is hardly a bad thing. Its honesty regarding the emotional costs of violence and murder are on par with that film. I don't know what to say to anyone who critiques Edward James Olmos. First, this actor's capacity to convey a complicated range of emotions without words is absolutely staggering and has been seen to great effect in many great films including "Blade Runner." Additionally, he is inarguably the premiere Latino / Chicano filmmaker and actor of all time. If you look at the films he has been involved with, think about how they have dominated the way Hispanic people, Mexicans in particular, have been seen by others who would, largely, not even know of the experiences of their neighbors. "American Me" is so unflinching that, after seeing it, I had to see it again to believe it was actually made by or released by a major studio. Once upon a time studio films featured honest portraits of life but rarely any more. "American Me" tho hardly the knee-slapping comedy some reviewer wanted or expected, conveys an honest sense of the life lived by many without the hope of education or prosperity but with the same need for respect and something bigger than themselves to believe in that you or anyone else has and lives their life by. If you want to see a life perhaps very different than yours depicted with uncommon honesty, watch this film.
HEX21
Great movie, because its a true story. Which today La Eme is alive and well as well as Nuestra familiar, two of the strongest and scariest Mexican/American gangs around. For those who don't understand gang activity may have a hard time understanding the movie, and may feel it might be corny though this stuff happens everyday and let me tell you it's not corny,it happens in our country everyday. Watching this film will open up your eyes and understand how serious our gang issue is in our country. You may thing that it's just another movie and that is was cheesy, but remember again this stuff happens everyday,it may not occur in your neck of the woods, though when you least expect it La Eme or Nuestra familiar might be near?
