"War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it," wrote Gen. William T. Sherman in his memoirs in 1875. That statement holds as much validity today as it did more than a hundred years ago-and this cruelty can often manifest itself in a more complex manner than mere casualty statistics. In March 2003, my wife and I read a story in the news about a young Mexican man, Lance Corporal Juan López Rangel, who had enlisted in the US Army in hopes of expediting his family's application for US citizenship.

Subsequently, Juan was killed in Iraq, and his body was flown back to his hometown of San Luiz de la Paz to be buried in a military funeral. At the funeral, a man from the US Embassy turned up to give Juan's widow the citizenship papers. These papers had been granted immediately upon the occasion of Juan's death. The tragic irony of this story moved us deeply, and thus the seed of our new short film, Una Causa Noble (A Noble Cause), was planted.

The war in Iraq and immigration continue to dominate the news today, and it appears as if the painful lessons of history have not yet been thoroughly absorbed. To some of us, the concepts of war and immigration remain abstract notions.

We hear statistics about a war that is taking place thousands of miles from home. We see the faces of strangers on the news who are being killed or wounded in action. But unless we know someone personally who is involved in this war, the chances are we haven't been asked to make any kind of sacrifice. The same is true of immigration. Many people in the US see pictures on TV of people climbing walls or fences and falsely assume that they are all merely criminals trying to flee to American soil. Most of them never get the chance to know any of these people personally. They can only see they are from a different culture and speak a different language and for some reason there are those who feel threatened by that. Yet, in reality, the vast majority of these emigrants are simply trying to find a better life and provide for their families-and who among us wouldn't do the same? 

Impassioned by the story of Juan Lopez Rangel, we contacted Carlos Pascual, who had helped us produce our last project, El Cochero, and we began to create a general outline for our film:

A young Mexican wife wants to continue raising her four-year-old son among family and tradition, while her husband, who works most of the time in the US, believes that more opportunities exist for them "en el otro lado" (on the other side). We also asked the superb San Miguel musician Gil Gutierrez to score original music for this film. 

In doing some research for our story, we soon uncovered an extremely surprising detail: Aside from the US, Great Britain, and Iraq itself, Mexico has suffered more casualties in the Iraq War than any other country. Yet, Mexico has never been part of "the coalition of the willing." How could this be possible? Further research led us to an executive order issued by President Bush in 2002 that offered accelerated citizenship to any foreign nationals living in the US who enlisted in the military to fight against terrorism. At the time, this executive order did not receive much national publicity, but with record numbers of foreign nationals, especially Hispanics, now serving in the US military, it is finally being covered by most major newspapers and TV networks. Is this offer by President Bush a genuine gesture of goodwill to those who risk their lives to serve the US in a time of war? Or is it simply a clever manipulation of vulnerable people at a time when new enlistment in the US military is at a record low?

The effects of war go beyond individuals and touch entire families. We wanted to highlight that fact in our short film. One case in point is Fernando Suarez del Solar, a Mexican man, who was a cashier at a 7-11 in California when his 23-year-old son, Jesús, decided to join the US Marines. Although Fernando was against the US invasion of Iraq, he was still quite proud to see his son in uniform. Unfortunately, Jesús was killed in Iraq, and since that time Fernando has become one of the most outspoken critics of the war and President Bush's offer. 

He has traveled to Iraq several times to meet the President-elect and to bring clothing and medical supplies to various orphanages. He has also met with Paul Bremer, the former US Presidential Envoy to Iraq in charge of the reconstruction effort. In addition, he has been featured on Nightline and NBC Nightly News.

Fernando's story truly inspired us, and after we completed shooting the film, we had the honor of meeting with him, showing him Una Causa Noble and discussing these issues. His heartbreak is still evident, but he remains committed to speaking out and helping those who have been affected by this war. 

The quest for a better life always involves some type of risk. US citizenship is often seen by many Mexicans as a road to a better life, and the risk these days can involve young people joining the armed services and being sent to war. The US military is well aware of this and has posted recruiters in many areas where young people might be susceptible to their offers. This includes many high schools. Carlos Castillo, a teacher at Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, has taken the bold step of banning all recruiters from his classroom. "I want my students to go to college," Carlos says, "not Iraq." Last month, we met with Carlos and showed our film to several of his classes. Roosevelt High School is about 95% Hispanic and has been the target of intense recruiting over the last few years. Although a group of 16-year-olds was never our target audience when we made the film, we were nonetheless amazed at how well it was received-and how much the students seemed to relate to it in their own individual ways. After all, some of them were "illegals" themselves. Others either had a family member in the military or knew someone else who did. 

The policies of both the US and Mexican governments are contributing to this dilemma.

It seems both countries could be doing a better job of working together to come up with a sensible, humane and long-term solution. Our movie was never intended to be a political one, but to a certain degree it was unavoidable. Yet, our primary intent as we developed the script was simply to show how one fictional family in Mexico is forced to choose between economic and cultural survival. We have screened Una Causa Noble for people on both sides of the proverbial aisle who have conflicting perspectives on these subjects. The one response they share is that the film helps puts a "human" face on these issues. Hopefully, viewers can empathize with our characters and, by extension, feel some compassion for all those desperate men, women and children who too often are compelled to make heartrending choices solely in order to survive. 

Una Causa Noble will be shown as part of the Expresión en Corto film festival held in San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato beginning July 22. Atención will publish a special supplement to the film festival in next week's issue. For more information about Una Causa Noble visit www.UnaCausaNoble.com. 



Summer Bioneers film series continues

The latest film in the Bioneers summer series features two speakers who highlight the issues surrounding the relationships between corporations and democracy.

The issue of corporations vs. community control is addressed in the film featuring Thomas Linzey, cofounder and president of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. Did you know that a corporation has the same legal entity status as a living human being? Did you know that this status was acquired by a law clerk's mistake in a legal case in the 1890s? 
Thomas Linzey believes that corporations are not entitled to the same inalienable rights as human beings, and he is busy making the case for this-in fact, lots of cases, in, of all places, rural Pennsylvania, where conservative farmers are leading the fight against corporations that try to override local control. Their success has led to a movement that is springing up all over the US with Democracy in Action workshops. These workshops teach communities the legal strategies to maintain local control against large corporations.

The second film is the very moving personal story of a Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser. A Saskatchewan rapeseed farmer, Schmeiser took on the giant company Monsanto after they invaded his crops with GMO seed and then sued him! This David-and-Goliath story shows the courage and integrity of a single individual at the same time that it highlights the power of a large corporation to use the legal framework to intimidate, bully and win. 

The films are shown at the Santa Ana Theatre and start at 5pm. They last approximately one hour. The cost is 50 pesos. A conversation café follows to allow discussion of issues from the films.

Bioneers film series, Thomas Linzey and Percy Schmeiser 
Tuesday, July 18, 5pm, Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25, 50 pesos


José Luis's Picks and Tips:

The picks: 

Dear Frankie
Emily Mortimer creates a complex and sympathetic portrait of a mother struggling to give her son anything she can, while Jack McElhone portrays the son as a wise, perceptive lad who can handle more challenges than his mother is willing to allow.

Murderball
"To consider the bleak months and sleepless nights when these men first confronted the reality of their injuries, and now to see them in the full force of athletic exuberance, is to learn something valuable about the human will," wrote Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The tips:

In order to be able to provide the best viewing experience, the show times for some movies may be adjusted to accommodate their length. Be sure to check the schedule carefully. Also, please remember the new ticket price of 50 pesos. Discount cards are 400 pesos for 10 shows. 

On Monday after 4pm buy your tickets for any selection of the week. Don't take the risk of being locked out! Nos vemos en el Cine….

Murderball (2005)
Monday, July 17, 3pm
Wednesday, July 26, 5pm 
English, 85 minutes
Rugby-playing quadriplegics compete for the Paralympic gold medal in this documentary about an amazing sport and the strong-willed athletes who play full-contact rugby using specially designed wheelchairs. The film follows the US Quad Rugby Team as they compete in the 2002 World Championships and the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. Winner of the 2005 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Dear Frankie (2004)
Monday, July 17, 5pm
Tuesday, July 18, 3pm
English, 105 minutes
Faced with the prospect of raising her son, Frankie (Jack McElhone), with a good-for-nothing man, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) spirits him away to Scotland and pretends the boy's father is aboard the HMS Accra. After years of pretending, including sending Frankie fake letters detailing his dad's adventures, the jig is up when Frankie learns the ship is docked by their home. Now, Lizzie must find a man to pose as Frankie's father … fast!

The Agronomist (2004)
Wednesday, July 19, 5pm
Thursday, July 27, 3pm
English, 90 minutes
Directed by Jonathan Demme, this profile of Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique weaves historical footage of Haiti's troubled past with one-on-one interviews with Dominique and his devoted wife, Michele Montas. The film also incorporates rare footage shot just before Dominique's assassination on April 30, 2000.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress 
(Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise, 2002)
Wednesday, July 19, 7pm
Wednesday, July 26, 7pm
Mandarin with English subtitles, 112 minutes
Based on director Sijie Dai's autobiographical novel and set in Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution, this nostalgic coming-of-age drama follows two young men, Luo (Kun Chen) and Ma (Ye Liu), sent to a remote village to be cleansed of non-Communist influences. While there, both fall under the spell of a local beauty (Xun Zhou) whose heart they hope to win through a secret stash of forbidden Western literature.

Bioneers summer film series
"Corporations versus democracy"
Tuesday, July 18, 5pm

Kids' Cartoons
Canceled because of Short Film Festival
Saturday, July 22

Musical Saturdays
Canceled because of Expresión en Corto festival