by Marvin Ramirez
La Mission home-made: Elenco de La Mission: Erika Alexandra, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Benjamín Bratt, John Amaechi, y Peter Bratt (director)
There is nothing like home-made tamale, says the old saying.
And this also applies to the new Mission-made film, La Missión, which writer and film director Peter Bratt and his brother, Benjamín Bratt (Che, the leading star) – both from the Mission neighborhood, bring to light an exciting scene filmed in this Barrio Latino of San Francisco home of the best taquerías, pupuserías and tajadas con queso in San Francisco.
As it happened that Bratt grew up around in the neighborhood, “I always dreamed about making a film in our own backyard… it’s really hard to describe into words, but you can smell it, you can hear it, you can feel, there is electricity that I think is … ahhh, the combination of these different cultures that both collide and intermix with each other,” Bratt said at a reception at the Queer Lounge in San Francisco.
La Mission, screened at the Castro Theater, was the opening film for the 52nd San Francisco Film Festival, which bring together three of the most relevant diverse groups in the city: Latinos, gays, and African-North Americans, which as Bratt said during the after-the-film reception, surround and are part of the lives of the Mission District.
It’s a powerful and moving film with that brings to the big screen the daily struggles that take place in the streets of San Francisco’s Mission District. It is a redemptive story of one man’s struggle to unlearn a lifetime of destructive habits.
“La Mission” tells the story of “Che” (Benjamin Bratt), a reformed and respected ex-con and recover1ing alcoholic who has turned his life around and now has a great relationship with his honor student son, Jess (Jeremy Ray Valdez).
Che lives for his beloved son, Jesse, his lifelong friends, and his passion for lowrider cars. Che and the “Mission Boyz” salvage junked cars, transforming them into classics.
Benjamín Bratt
But when one day Che dad questions his son’s whereabouts on a particular evening, and confronts him with photos he found of his son posing with a white boy, it interrupts this good relationship, and things change. This makes Che confused and angry, who finds himself struggling with his machismo.
In a violent rage, Che pummels Jesse and throws him out of the house. Lena, an attractive neighbor and a force to be reckoned with, is a woman with a few secrets of her own. Mutual attraction percolates as Lena challenges Che to reconcile the life he thought he had.
“Like the neighborhood in which it’s set, Peter’s film is full of life and has a big wild heart,” Graham Leggat, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, said in a statement. “We loved it at first sight, not least because of the wonderful way in which it marshals the city’s filmmaking talent, and we can’t imagine a more enjoyable way to open this year’s Festival than with this moving and powerful film.”
Director Peter Bratt, cast members Benjamin Bratt, Erika Alexander, Jeremy Ray Valdez and many members of the film’s local crew to attended the hometown premiere and festivities.
After the film, at 10:30 p.m., the Mission-style Opening Night party kicked off at two historical venues, the iconic Bruno’s Restaurant, and a unique street scene setting within the ruins of the El Capitan Theatre, located at 2389 Mission Street between 19th and 20th Streets.
The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 23 – May 7, 2009 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre and Landmark’s Clay Theatre in San Francisco; and the Pacific Film Archive Theater in Berkeley. (News services and reviews contributed to this report).
