Because
Latinas tend to play a stereotypical role in most mainstream
films, the movie Luminarias is a window into
a subculture that opens and brings fresh air in a manner similar
to how The Joy Luck Club (1993) opened the eyes
of filmviewers to the difficulties of life among Chinese American
females. The title refers not only to the name of an upscale
restaurant in Los Ángeles catering to Latinos but also translates
literally from Spanish as "outstanding women." As the tagline
hints, "It's all about love." The story revolves around four
middle-aged but attractive Mexican Americans who are trying
to find life and love in contemporary Los Ángeles, California
but form a support group because of the ambiguities in a city
that offers upward mobility to the well-trained, opportunities
to meet men of other cultures, but nostalgia for roots in
the barrio of East Los Angeles. Among the four, who alternately
accept or reject being described as Chicanas, Latinas, or
Mexicanas (when they are perhaps really Californianas), there
is a lawyer, a psychotherapist, and two others with middle-class
occupations. A fifth Mexicana, not part of the group, loses
in a child custody case when the attorney defending her former
husband presses buttons that evoke a barrage of profanity
and rage while she was on the witness stand. The central character,
the lawyer Andrea Fernandez (played by Evelina Fernandez,
who wrote the script), is married to a Chicano, who in turn
is flirting with an Anglo; the other three are unattached
but eager for mates. By the time the film ends, the married
Chicana gets a divorce and falls in love with Joseph Levinson,
a Jewish attorney (played by Scott Bakula), the attorney defending
the husband in the child custody case. The psychotherapist
falls for a Mexican waiter at the restaurant, who courts and
serenades her in typical Spanish style. The third Chicana
marries a handsome Korean Lu (played by Andrew Kim), after
he convinces his parents that he is not marrying down. The
fourth has successfully given up sex during Lent and is ready
to resume a manhunt. Even Andrea's son is dating an African
American girl. But the issues raised during the film place
the plot into the background. We see how Latinas are so closely
knit together that marriage outside the community can be experienced
as a form of betrayal, even though the alienation from the
community began when they sought jobs previously unavailable
to them. Thus, we see the benefits of affirmative action and
the guilt experienced by Latinas as they pass Latinos socioeconomically.
Although some Latinos are viewed as inveterate Don Juans trying
to prove their machismo, one is prone to excessive violence,
one is a drug dealer, one dresses up in drag, and yet another
is a UCLA professor (played by Chichi Marín). Prejudice directed
toward Latinas and Latinos, thus, is not only from other groups
(and at one point reference is made to the "stolen land,"
which resulted when the United States militarily took over
lands formerly part of México), but also comes from within.
The rage felt by Latinas over being put down at home, at work,
and even in hunting for a mate can only be assuaged by finding
love, according to the film, but the quest for love turns
out to be a battleground that occasionally overwhelms. Directed
by José Luis Valenzuela (spouse of the lead actress), the
film is both witty and serious, dealing with so many issues
that rarely find cinematic exposure that the Political Film
Society has nominated Luminarias as best film
exposé of the year 2000. MH
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