Jesus Salvador’s Raices de sangre/Roots of Blood (1976) revolves around labor struggles at the US/Mexico border. The film proceeds with two separate but entwined storylines, one of a group of Chicano organizers known as “Barrio unido” working for equal rights, and one of the Mejias family and others employed by an American-owned garment factory in Mexico. It explores the racist attitudes of white vs. Chicano as well as the discrimination between Mexicans and Chicanos.
The film’s social message is powerful and it has one zinger of an ending. There are of course, those provisional moments of total corn that only a film from the 70’s with fro-endowed actors can produce. Brilliant. And the silhouetted sex scene that’s trying to be modest is somehow humorously betrayed by the female character’s unusually evident nipples (literally on par with Naomi Watts’ in 21 grams I might add). Yet this film is highly valued for its progressive social content (at least at the time) and is generally seen within the Latin American community as a milestone film: 3.7/5.
