‘American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez’ Review: A Chicano Auteur Gets His Victory Lap [Sundance]

“American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez” comes out swinging. Within the first five minutes, narration refers to the subject as a “living legend;” Edward James Olmos, Linda Ronstadt, Cheech Marin, and the labor activist Dolores Huerta all sing his praises; and the photographer Luis Garza compares him to Shakespeare. Message received: Luis Valdez is important. David Alvarado’s documentary is inventive and engaging as it enumerates the artist and activist’s early life and professional accomplishments — it just doesn’t tell viewers much else about him.

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Film aficionados will know Valdez best as the director of “Zoot Suit” and “La Bamba,” where he captured the hallmarks and struggles of Chicano culture in the 1940s and 1950s. “American Pachuco” gives plenty of biographical details, so viewers know that Valdez himself grew up during those tumultuous decades, and that his DIY aesthetic is rooted in his upbringing as the child of two migrant farm workers. Punchy graphics and intertitles — plus a veritable treasure trove of archival footage — make this a pleasing watch, and Olmos reprises his role as El Pachuco, the narrator of “Zoot Suit,” to narrate the film. It’s the sort of documentary that will be right at home in a high school social studies or Spanish classroom — as the proceedings pause for several quick vocabulary lessons, one feels primed for the next pop quiz.

For any adult viewers eager to dig deeper, though, “American Pachuco” comes up short. Valdez made a name for himself with boundary-pushing theatrical productions that fought for workers’ rights and lampooned racism. By contrast, this documentary crosses no lines — it doesn’t even toe them. To hear “American Pachuco” tell it, Valdez’s biggest hardships in life were his older brother’s pursuit of the American dream and the harsh reception of “Zoot Suit” by New York theater critics. That latter blow didn’t stop “Zoot Suit” from being made into a Golden Globe-nominated movie, and by the end of the documentary, Valdez and his brother have reconciled.

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Such conflict-free storytelling is antithetical to the subject matter itself, which includes the histories of multiple racist riots. Surely there’s more to be said about Valdez’s irreconcilable differences with Cesar Chavez, or even just how Valdez’s avant-garde theater company, El Teatro Campesino, has survived for over 60 years. Though Valdez occasionally mentions adversity — such as being the subject of racist jokes on his own film sets — “American Pachuco” offers an overall sunny portrait of the art life. It’s a bit too pleasant to ring true.

The film’s one big swing, re-casting Olmos as El Pachuco, comes across more like a gimmick. El Pachuco functions as the conscience of “Zoot Suit” — here, he’s essentially a callback. The few moments when he interrupts the story’s momentum to crack wise feel intrusive rather than insightful, and it’s ultimately unclear why this documentary uses him as a framing device, aside from the obvious flex of featuring Olmos. (Though if that was the reason, hey, fair enough.)

It’s no surprise that “American Pachuco” reads as educational and nonconfrontational, since it’s actually the newest film in PBS’ “American Masters” series. It’s also nice to see Valdez get these accolades, as an undeniably important figure in American and Chicano culture. Still, this film is premiering at Sundance in the U.S. Documentary Competition, which implies a certain level of edge (at least, it used to). “American Pachuo” is just a nice movie about a visionary guy. Entertaining and educational, to be sure, but so frictionless it barely sticks. [C]

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Lena Wilson

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