Ethnomusicology Film Review: Al Otro Lado
The film, Al Otro Lado, documents conjunto Mexican music, which I wrote about in my ethnomusicology background/history essay. The film begins with an opening segment about a musician who writes songs for the guitar and voice, without the aid of notation, about everyday events, such as: local events, women he’s infatuated with or in love, social change he wishes to see occur, and political issues. The musician than talks about drugs he sells “… to the gringos” (Spanish for “whites”) that are illegal in the United States, like cocaine and marijuana (and by their street names). I thought that the film only looks at a narrow view of life in Mexico as not all Mexicans are drug traffickers. In Mexico, it’s illegal to sell cocaine. If one is not quite attuned to stereotypes, this fact might make one predisposed to create them which would perpetuate a negative view of Mexico. Towards the end of the film, a female, which is rare according to the singer, performs a gig in California with some politically charged lyrics about Mexicans in the United States. However, this is incorrect, because there are many female bands and groups in popular Latino music in Mexico. The difference between Mexican conjunto music and American-Mexican music is that in the latter, the music is amped up and in English to reach a broad American audience. While popular among the Latino/Hispanic demographics in the U.S., they still haven’t reached a base among the gringos. Another important fact about this style and musicians living in Mexico begs the question, why aren’t they paid very much? Many of them are talented but they live double lives, working in the fishing industry and at factories. The amount of money they make compared to an American is nearly zilch; it is no wonder they admire the American lifestyle.
That is not my only complaint of the film, which is too short. The coyote who brought the migrants wanting to leave Mexico to the United States across the border seemed like thugs just like the Texan part of the neighborhood watch. He said so himself that he’d leave an “illegal” behind and he knows that in so doing, the chance of one’s dying in the desert increases. The film, however, does a good job of explaining the issues that are within Mexico. The musician who sang about the coke farmers said, essentially, the poor community suffers while the rich live like kings relatively. But in his perspective, American citizens live like kings, which is also not entirely true. In short, this film seems to perpetuate a negative view of illegal migration into the United States from a conservative film producer.
The Texan man who is part of this neighborhood watch program acted like he’s part of the police force—he doesn’t appear to have a real life, although I’m sure he does. He makes it his hobby to make life even more difficult for illegals attempting to cross the border by calling border patrol. The immigration policy in the United States, which this film touches briefly, is a complicated issue because the United States has a flip-flopping immigration policy. It lets some in but others out. I can’t tell whether it’s due to one’s appearance or one’s race. Since this is unclear, I sincerely disagree with the Texan’s all-judgmental attitude. He lacks the authority of a police regimen and he fails to see the larger picture of the strife of these poor Mexican immigrants, making him a moron.
In conclusion, the film does a good job of tying the strife of the Mexican musician to its relevance in both Mexico and the United States. The film, however, fails to look at all sides of the issue of immigration. There is some balance in the film, in that it does a good job of explaining why Mexicans come to the United States, which is to share in the common dream as under the constitution, but it doesn’t pick apart the racism that they face and gross stereotyping that occurs to my knowledge. Also, the film makes little mention of the harsh working conditions Mexicans face by America’s standards, in a society that is placing less emphasis on labor unions and in Southern region of the states, of which people generally seem adept to segregate and exclude those and prison those of non-white appearance, still going on today.
