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"Zoot Suit. All it is for you guys is another way to say Mex

Trevor Willsmer | London, England | 06/17/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Zoot Suit takes a highly stylised approach to racism in the 40s, in particular the infamous 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder trial that saw a group of Zoot Suited `Chicanos' railroaded for a murder in one of the most outrageously unfair trials in American history. But rather than go for a grim courtroom drama, Luis Valdez' film uses it as the basis for a musical fantasy about racism and machismo dominated by Edward James Olmos' El Pachuco, a fantasy figure acting as both Greek Chorus and instigator, with attitude and bad advice to spare. The director's brother Daniel Valdez does double-duty as self-destructive leading man and composer of many the songs, and does a good job of both (sadly the soundtrack only made it to LP). There are some liberties with the truth - names have been changed and the 22 accused are whittled down to a fictionalized four for dramatic convenience - although the most surreal and unbelievable aspects of the trial are sadly accurate: the defendants weren't allowed clean clothes or haircuts to ensure that they looked more `criminal,' had to stand whenever their name was mentioned and the prosecution really did produce a witness from the LA Sheriff's Office who gave testimony that Mexicans were predisposed to commit murder because of their `Aztec heritage' of human sacrifice.

There's no attempt to hide that this is unashamedly a filmed play and there are problems with the approach: the sporadic cutaways to the theatre audience are more distraction than anything else and by filming on the original theatre sets the film occasionally hits problems with the cinematography - the vivid colors are excellent, but the tendency to lose focus on anyone not standing center-stage (something that happens to Charles Aidman in particular) is irritatingly sloppy. Also, it has to be said, Olmos' performance makes no concessions to the more intimate nature of film and at times comes across as stilted and too mannered for the big screen. Yet despite the niggles, it works more often than not. Not for all tastes, certainly, but this `Chicano Chicago' certainly deserves to be better known.

Universal's DVD is bare-bones - only the atrocious trailer in badly bleached-out black-and-white is included as an extra - but at least boasts a good widescreen transfer."