El Norte

Critics Consensus

Sensitively written, skillfully directed, and powerfully portrayed, El Norte wrings deeply affecting drama from intractable real-life issues.

82%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 2,378

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El Norte Photos

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Movie Info

When a group of Mayan Indians decides to organize a labor union to improve conditions in their village, their community is violently destroyed by the Guatemalan army. Teenage siblings, Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez) and Enrique (David Villalpando) manage to escape the massacre and decide to start a new life in El Norte -- the USA. The two trek through Mexico, meeting a variety of characters and facing trials and tribulations on their journey toward lives as illegal immigrants in Los Angeles.

Rating:

R
Genre:

drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Gregory Nava
Producer:

Trevor Black, Bertha Navarro, Anna Thomas
Release Date (Theaters):

Jan 1, 1983 wide
Release Date (Streaming):

Nov 18, 2016
Runtime:

2h 19m
Production Co:

American Playhouse
Sound Mix:

Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Dolby Stereo

Cast & Crew

Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez
Rosa Xuncax

David Villalpando
Enrique Xuncax

Ernesto Gómez Cruz
Arturo Xuncax

Gregory Nava
Director

Gregory Nava
Writer

Anna Thomas
Writer

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Critic Reviews for El Norte

All Critics (21) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (3)

From the very first moments of El Norte, we know that we are in the hands of a great movie.

September 19, 2014 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Roger Ebert
RogerEbert.com
It is beautifully lensed and comes across as a kind of giant Renaissance canvas.

September 19, 2014 | Full Review…

Variety Staff
Variety
In El Norte's defense, it does not, unlike those contemporary films, filter its view of an ethnic subculture through the eyes of a white protagonist.

January 23, 2009 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Matt Noller
Slant Magazine
El Norte is not exactly a great film, but it's a very good one that, through the devices of fiction, manages to provoke a number of healthily contradictory feelings about the world we all inhabit at the moment.

August 23, 2004 | Full Review…

Vincent Canby
New York Times
Though his subject is a serious one and his intentions are apparently noble, Nava has made a film that is essentially indistinguishable from Love Story.

January 1, 2000 | Full Review…

Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Narrated in a direct and unsophisticated style, it has greatness but also the limitations of independent cinema that tends to look at the immediate with excessive schematism. [Full Review in Spanish]

September 17, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Fotogramas Staff
Fotogramas
The most striking thing about Gregory Nava's El Norte may be that so compelling and true a story took so long to make it to the screen.

August 20, 2019 | Full Review…

Susan Jhirad
Sojourner
It's heartening to see this non-Hollywood production finding a solid niche in the commercial movie circuit.

September 19, 2014 | Full Review…

David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
Splendid on nearly every level.

September 19, 2014 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review…

Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
A sobering glimpse of reality, that's also an irresistibly involving drama.

September 19, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

David Parkinson
Radio Times
The result is a disturbing movie about hope and disappointment.

September 19, 2014 | Full Review…

People Staff
People Magazine
Good intentions arent enough to compensate for bad editing, acting and writing.

July 26, 2009 | Rating: 3/10 | Full Review…

Christopher Long
Movie Metropolis

View All Critic Reviews (21)

Audience Reviews for El Norte

Apr 30, 2011

I'm sort of embarrassed that I like this so much, especially the part when it devolves into a horror story because of THE MICE OH MY GOD THE MICE, but I don't know - it's also kind of charming in its own simple way.

Jennifer X Super Reviewer
Oct 14, 2009

Picked it up at the library,Tried to watch it but got bored so I took it back.Seen it at the library again & decided to give it another chance & Im so glad I did.A great movie

Brody M Super Reviewer
Jul 08, 2008

Brother and sister from Guatemala decide to seek refuge in the U.S. That's the first part. The second half details their life in that magical city in "the north" called Los Angeles. The last shot is heartbreaking. Well plotted film deservedly won an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Mark H Super Reviewer
Jul 06, 2008

Depressingly good times.

Ed K Super Reviewer