Song for Cesar is a fresh vivacious musical retrospective on the art that supported American farm workers. It is not a historical documentary per se about Cesar Chavez, an activist’s life. In its place, it simply shows archives, interviews and recording session concerts by the people who were instrumental to his message spread out. It brings back memory of a sweeping grass roots movement which used none violence to demand change. For those who were repressed in their own country but contributed to its growth; music was a powerful unifying force.
The film opens with Carlos Santana’s guitar sizzling while Abel Sanchez sings in April 2016 music studio. These are then followed by stirring newsreels of Cesar Chavez leading farm workers in the sixties and seventies as narrated by poet laureate Maya Angelou. Others discuss how many of them grew up as child laborers under abject poverty. For instance, for less than one dollar each hour, their families picked produce under scorching suns hunched over in the fields; some even dreamed of becoming tractor drivers just so they could sit down while working.
Then Song for Cesar sets up the birth of the farm workers union movement overall. Richard, brother to Cesar Chavez reveals what growing up on California farms meant to them both. They were practically slaves. Working ten hours daily, living together with their families in shanty accommodation without any toilet facilities or medical support systems—this was life for such people at that time! They became sick due to exposure to poisonous chemicals from pesticides among other things. Injury was fatal because preventable accidents occurred after all this had taken place. Cesar Chavez knew this unfairness from when he was still young and vowed to fight for improved conditions.
The movie takes a turn and starts off with broad ranging interviews involving people who wished to pay tribute to Chavez’s memory through various acts of kindness and love which they would perform through music. He really liked music. Chavez grew up in the fifties as a pachuco, Mexican-Americans who wore zoot suits, danced, and went to concerts. Their parents were quite different from them. It was the genesis of Chicano culture in America. Sweat fed America while land owners got rich off it according to Chavez. The challenge for him was how to get through to all those farm workers who needed help? Music became his answer.
The second act of Song for Cesar starts pulsing with energy again. Various legendary figures such as Joan Baez, Cheech Marin, Taj Mahal, Kris Kristofferson among others describe how they contributed towards the union’s cause through their musical performances. This began with Chavez riding on the back of a truck while singers performed in a nearby field and expanded into Fiestas Campesinas which were massive concerts attended by thousands of people. Some clips stand out well in this regard. There is something about them that makes you see the energy that was coming from jubilant crowds resolute on making themselves heard at last time; with social justice movements of 60s-70s taking shape around Cesar Chavez plus Dolores Huerta (a cofounder of UFW) becoming household names even though labeled by media as leftwing trouble makers yet gaining ground.
Song for Cesar shows what demonstrators were up against when they protested unlawful government practices or policies that did not favor laborers’ terms of service.Torturing and shooting of peaceful protesters always happened.Meanwhile, Joan Baez and Taj Mahal wrote tribute songs about the innocent victims executed for speaking truth to power.Workers murdered in cold blood just because they asked for fair pay.Therefore there are several air-raising stories told by musicians about their own experience performing under gunpoint.
Still, Song for Cesar also takes time to cover painters and writers’ contributions during this period too. The UFW labor movement used posters and murals as visual representations of their people. Workers were depicted in Chicano artwork more realistically than in other mediums so that it could serve as a unifying tool and raise awareness about the culture. These scenes are particularly inspiring.
Dolores Huerta and Cruz Reynosa, a former associate justice of California’s Supreme Court, give a frank epilogue. Chavez, the artists, activists, and farm workers made monumental strides. Conditions and wages have improved substantially but there is still a long way to go. Song for Cesar teaches and inspires with a head-bobbing, toe-tapping beat. It is a remarkable remembrance of a man and movement.
Song for Cesar started as an Abel Sanchez-Jorge Santana musical tribute in 2004. This movie has been directed by Sanchez with Andres Alegria as producer. The film will open in select theaters on March 11th through Juno Films.
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