Cesar Chavez

"If we show the world their abuse, greed and brutality then our voice will be heard and responded to." After being raised and working in the fields since he was 8 Cesar Chavez (Peña) has seen enough of the abuse of the workers. After realizing nothing was going to change on its own he decides to step up and become a leader. His goal is to form a union and get every worker an honest wage. What seems like an easy thing to do is met with resistance from almost everyone. His non-violent protests slowly begin to become embraced by not only his fellow workers but American citizens as well. Going in to this movie I knew next to nothing about the real man. My favorite genre of movie is the biopic, it's almost better (for me) to not know as much about the person that way not only am I not expecting anything but I am also not disappointed when they leave things out. I say all that because I can't speak to how accurate the movie is but what I can say is that I really enjoyed this. Not only is the movie very well made and acted it is also inspiring and you really become angry watching what the company he is protesting against does to discredit and discount his stance. Again I can't speak to how accurate the movie is but what the movie does do is inspire and make you wonder why the corporate heads waited so long to even talk to him. That said it also makes you wonder if this happened today if the reactions would be the same. Without getting too political my guess would be yes. Corporate greed never goes away, it only grows. Overall, a great and inspiring movie that is one of the better biopics of the last few years. I give this a high B+.

This is the story of Cesar Chavez who took on the planters and growers in the southern US in order to end exploitation of immigrant workers. On his way he made a lot of sacrifices but so did his family – he had eight children and the film captures some of the familial strife that he underwent too.

We also have the parts played by numerous politicians from Bobby Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald 'I don't use hair dye' Regan. This could be called one sided in that it is pretty black and white in its approach, however it has a genuine feel of authenticity and seems to match what I could find out about the man. That is the factual stuff; the emotional is obviously part poetic invention.

Starring Michael Pena ('End of Watch' and 'Fury') who puts in a solid performance and with able support from, amongst others, John Malkovich. This is a film that does not require very much analysis and you can just kick back and enjoy it. The real strength here is the message of unity and education and how that can make a change for the better. I for one really enjoyed it and irrespective of your political hue there will be something here for most people.

This movie was as accurate and as realistic as it could be when packing many years of struggle into 100 minutes. There are many lessons to be learned from La Causa. I just hope that young people see it, learn from it and connect it to today's struggles.

Some uninformed people may feel that Michael Pena's acting is weak..that couldn't be further from the truth. Pena portrayed Cesar the way he was...soft-spoken and undramatic. That was the amazing thing.. Cesar Chavez was driven by his passion for justice. He was not a politician. He was not an eloquent public speaker. Yet he inspired millions to boycott, march, strike, struggle because his cause was so moral, so real, so grass roots.

Having just seen the movie and having met the man many years ago,I can say that the film was better than most of the reviews I have read. This was a very humble man that saw an injustice and corrected it. He didn't line his own pockets like most Union Leaders have. I would have preferred to see more of his upbringing so that we know who influenced him the most. Nonetheless, this film (docudrama) should be required viewing in public schools throughout California and other states where farm workers supply our nation and the world with much of our produce. A must see movie if you want to understand what the migrant workers were up against in the 60's and 70's.

Firstly, I disagree with the external critic reviews that bring the overall rating of the film down very much. Unfortunately, these are the criticisms that will keep Hollywood from investing in future endeavors that symbolize the Latino/Social Justice/Consciousness-Inducing narratives that the public desperately needs.

I work in the immigrant social justice movement and I work closely with a lot of farm worker justice orgs, including Chavez's UFW. I understand that there are contexts missing and that there were a lot of things at stake during that particular movement, but I'm more aware of the fact that it would be hard for the general public and the folks that really need to go and watch this film to understand the greater context and be moved by the politics that plagued the social advocates and continue to plague our movement today.

I also took my Spanish-speaking, first generation immigrant family to watch this film. They are not involved in any of my work but some of them have worked on the fields as guest workers, etc. I was glad to see that they were moved and even brought to tears by the simplicity of the film and that they appreciated that someone was acknowledging their struggle. At the end of the day, the film was entertaining, well acted, and it served its purpose to educate and inspire people like my family.