By Elia Esparza
Director A.P. Gonzalez on the set of The Wetback.
For more than 25 years, film director A.P. Gonzalez has worked in the Hollywood entertainment industry. Still to this date, he is stunned at the lack of inclusion and representation of Latinos in film and television. Throughout academic and film career, Gonzalez, who was a full professor at UCLA’s Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, has sought to make a movie that captures the magical realism that envelopes a Latino working-class community—as it really is, without the Hollywood made stereotypes.
Years ago Gonzalez read Ron Arias’ novel, The Road to Tamazunchale, and fell in love with it. “The novel blew me away,” recalled Gonzalez, “Not merely because of its literary influences but because the protagonist in the story could have been my own grandfather—quirky, wise, resilient and full-of-life. While I had read other novels, plays, and poetry by Mexican-Americans, these were usually rooted in sociological and/or political intent. Instead, Arias’ novel sings of humanity, beauty, universality, and art.”
Gonzalez got the rights to the novel and quickly adapted it into a feature, calling it Fausto’s Road and started pitching it around town. In spite of the narrative jumping around in time, industry “greenlighters” and executives loved the story and the writing. However, they all said the same thing, “Who is going to watch a film with a mostly Latino cast, about everyday working-class people?” It seemed like the only stories selling in Hollywood involved Latinos drug dealers, gang members or criminals.
Nevertheless, this novel has haunted Gonzalez for years, and he knew he had to make a feature film out of it. Timing is everything.
Fast forward a few years, and Gonzalez decided the time was ripe for Fausto’s Road. But this time he’d create a different strategy for getting the feature made. “Somewhere in this screenplay,” he said to himself, “There’s a powerful storyline that can make a great short film.” After several narrative possibilities, he condensed a storyline dealing with an immigrant’s body that mysteriously turns up on the banks of the L.A. River, hence, The Wetback.
Before making The Wetback, Gonzalez made sure to adhere to his own must-have criteria:
His short must showcase Latinx talent who portray real characters not stereotypes.
His short must be a well made “concept piece,” high quality enough to entice potential investors.
His short must be a tale of magical realism like his beloved influences –Cervantes, Kafka, Faulkner, Garcia Marquez and Ron Arias.
And how wonderful that Gonzalez has captured all the reality mixed in with some magical realism with The Wetback.
After screening the film, European festival magazine, Film: The Magazine, captures the essence of The Wetback just right:
The genre of magical realism accepts the emotional reality of characters as real. Fantastical elements are not just possible but authentic – so much so that we begin to question the very nature of objective reality.”
Guillermo Del Toro and A.P. Gonzalez
This review is spot on. Unlike so many films about Latinos, The Wetback is not a stereotypical view of the Latino community. It’s not about crime, drug trafficking, misery or poverty, instead it’s about Latinos who live in a decent and loving community. Hardworking, working-class Latinos from every walk in life, yet they cling to their Latino culture and traditions—one being the mysticism of our dead.
With the current plight of non-documented immigrants being so uncertain, there has been an increase of media about those immigrants caught in the negative web of politics. Children are being separated from their parents and incarcerated in cages, inhumane treatment with no one really knowing how many are dying daily. So many are dying incarcerated, many more dying during their journey from the south to the American borders, and then there are those ignored Americans living in Puerto Rico, There is so much heartache that it is a pleasure to watch a film made by a Latino, about Latinos, yet a storyline with a universal truth that will tug at the heartstrings of all audiences who watch The Wetback.
The Wetback is a total contradiction of its title. Ten-year-old Danny and his friends, who frequently play near the L.A. River, find a body. They scatter in different directions to get the adults, especially an older woman, the neighborhood’s eccentric, who claims the body because she believes it is her long-lost love from her youth. The more sensible adults, like Danny’s grandfather and mother, are concerned and know they must find a way to take the body back and give it a proper burial. They know that if the authorities find out, they won’t really care about this dead man, because to them, he’s just another illegal immigrant, another wetback. In the process of getting the body back from the eccentric woman, a generation-long secret is revealed in this tale of “magical realism.”
“It’s about what happens on an otherwise normal day, in a working-class Latino neighborhood, when an immigrant’s body turns up near the river,” Gonzalez said. “The point of view is not from the Anglo-American majority, nor is the story about the overall impact of immigrants on society, and it’s not about drug dealers, misery and poverty and other stereotypical notions of American Latinos.”
The immigrant’s body was once a viable person, searching for a dream of a better life. His life impacted real people, and he was respected by the people in his community.” — A.P. Gonzalez
And, he is so right. The Wetback is about community, longing, compassion, and the mysticism in the Latino culture. In short, there is no better time than now to tell a story about the largest ethnic minority in our country – a population of over 55 million people who are rarely portrayed in U.S. films.
Gonzalez is ready to make the feature-length movie, develop the characters more fully – it will truly be a rare look into an American Latino community that happens to embrace just about every mythical and folklore tale they’ve ever heard, believed and lived.
The short was completed in January of this year, and Gonzalez is now on the film festival circuit, picking up awards just about everywhere The Wetback has been screened. The film premiered at the San Diego Latino Film Festival in March 2018, and it will screen at The Madrid International Film Festival in late July, followed by a screening at the 24th San Antonio Film Festival during the first week of August. A Los Angeles screening has not yet been announced.
Awards and nominations: Accolade Competition (2018), Winner/Latino/Hispanic, Award of Merit, Short Film Global Shorts, Los Angeles (2018), Winner, Award of Merit Best Shorts Competition (2018), Winner, Award of Merit Special Mention Madrid International Film Festival, ES (2018), Nominee, Festival Award, Best Director of a Short Film, Best Editor of a Short Film
The Wetback (2018) Short, Drama/Fantasy (17 min) Beisbol Productions LLC Writer and Director: A.P. Gonzalez Producers: A.P. Gonzalez and Jeff Vibes
Cast: Alex Favela, Elayne Coba, Harold Cannon-Lopez, Tina D’Marco, Victor Ramirez, Amador Plascencia, Lilian Tapia, Luis Enrique Navarro, Mauricio Lara, Octavio Solorio, Shaula Vega, Xochitl Gomez-Deines
Cinematographer: Reinhart Reschke Casting Director: Orlette Ruiz, Mambo Casting Editor: Daniel Velez Composer: Erick Del Aguila
A.P. Gonzalez began his filmmaking career as an editor. He edited his own first feature, Clay Farmers, as well as two documentary films for the Names Project: The Inaugural Display of the Quilt; and the ACE Award nominee, We Bring a Quilt. He has also edited the Golden Apple award-winning documentary directed by Kevin White, Not All Parents Are Straight. He is now a professor emeritus at UCLA and a member of The Directors Guild of America (DGA). Other narrative films include: Mangas from the Fotonovela Series and Hurricane Party. He is an activist promoting the best of the Latino community as they are portrayed on film and TV screens.
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