Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (2021, PG-13)

This was an interesting documentary. I learned a lot about this talented actress and complicated, determined woman.

The film was put together in 2018, around the time of Rita Moreno’s 87^th birthday and while she was shooting One Day at a Time. It hits on many of the main points of her life: moving to New York from Puerto Rico as a little girl, getting discovered and becoming a contract player for MGM, West Side Story, and other projects throughout her career. It also delves into heartbreaking personal experiences in her life.

I’ll admit that I’m largely familiar with Moreno’s work in both film adaptations of West Side Story and on One Day at a Time. I haven’t seen many of the other films or shows she’s done, and even with older films I have seen, I hadn’t realized she was in them! Looking at you, Singin’ in the Rain and The King and I. So the documentary offers up a lot of new information for me—I had no idea she was on The Electric Company or Oz.

It’s not surprising that, coming up in the studios in the ‘50s, she put up with a ton of racist crap. Moreno was indiscriminately cast as any of type of “ethnic” girl, delivering her lines in a generic foreign accent and slathered with “mud-colored” makeup—Hollywood could only see her as a brown foreigner, despite needing to darken her skin because she herself didn’t match the image they held of her. I can only imagine how demoralizing it is to long to act but consistently be given racist garbage to perform.

I love what Moreno had to say about West Side Story, how in the absence of role models for her in Hollywood, she created her own role model through her performance as Anita. But as much as she cherished the role, it makes sense that she has complicated feelings about it, given some of the shots taken at Puerto Rico in “America.” She relates a lovely story about a friend who was in the barrio on Oscar night, listening to the sound of the ceremony playing through everyone’s open window and hearing the triumphant shouts when Moreno’s name was called.

I hadn’t known about Moreno’s experience with sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood, but it makes a devastating amount of sense. And I’d had no idea that she had a tumultuous on-again off-again relationship with Marlon Brando. I didn’t know about her long history of activism, or that she was present at the March on Washington!

Her career has had so many ups and downs, but I like hearing about the varied opportunities she’s had over the years, such as memorable turns on The Muppet Show and her role on Oz. And of course, I enjoy what she and others have to say about One Day at a Time—after all the grief she’s gone through to keep acting, I’m glad that role found her in her 80s.

Along with the plentiful interviews with Moreno, the documentary also features numerous talking heads from family, friends, and other Latine creatives in Hollywood. We hear from Gloria Estefan, Eva Longoria, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Karen Olivo, and Justina Machado, among others. Despite the hardships Moreno has been through, it’s still heartening to hear about how much she means to so many people.

Warnings

Discussion of violence (including rape,) language, and strong thematic elements (including discussion of sexual harassment.)

Changing the Game (2019)

This TV movie documentary was made before the current rabid fearmongering against trans people, with a focus on young trans athletes, fully boiled over, but there was still plenty of anti-trans sentiment in the U.S. at this point. The film looks at the obstacles these kids face from multiple angles as they’re just trying to play their sport.

We chiefly follow the stories of three trans high school athletes, with a fourth coming in near the end. Mack is a champion wrestler from Texas, but the “champion” title is thorny for him: his school is forcing him to compete in the girls’ wrestling league, when all he wants is to wrestle other boys. Sarah is a skier from New Hampshire, who embraces her state’s “Live Free or Die” motto to make noise for her rights. Andraya is a track star from Connecticut who just wants to run in peace, but she deals with hateful comments from other kids’ parents at every meet.

I love that each kid’s story is so different, looking at different challenges from different angles. Sarah and Andraya are both able to compete in events according to their gender identity. Sarah had to fight to achieve that, giving speeches and educating people to secure her place, but now that she’s on the team, she doesn’t seem to receive a lot of pushback. Andraya’s school was behind her from the start, but while they support her, they can’t stop the adults shouting at a teenager about her “unfair advantage.” Meanwhile, Mack is forced against his will to compete on a team that doesn’t match his gender identity, but he still receives hate for it. At his meets, parents boo him and shout that he shouldn’t be allowed to compete against girls, since he’s on testosterone. Like, people, he doesn’t want to compete against girls. He keeps saying that, but y’all won’t let him compete against boys like he wants!

Regardless of their individual circumstances, each kid has extra muck that they have to deal with when they really just want to be concentrating on their spot. For Mack and Andraya especially, it can drag them down, turning what’s supposed to be a fun character-building activity into something that makes them feel bad about themselves. As Mack is training for his second state championship, he’s dropped into the middle of a media circus. In one scene, he reads through the comments on a news story about him, including dehumanizing insults and people hoping he’ll kill himself—as he explains, he’s bullied by adults way more than he is by other teens.

Fortunately, each kid also has people in their corner who love and support them. Sarah’s parents encourage her advocacy and take her to testify at a state congressional hearing about an anti-discrimination bill, and she loves hanging out with her friends. Mack lives with his grandparents, who don’t quite understand everything but fight fiercely for their grandson’s happiness, and he can open up to his girlfriend about the stuff he’s going through. Andraya’s mom is her biggest cheerleader and ready to do anything to protect her daughter, and through Andraya’s example, another Black trans girl at her school, Terry, finds the courage to be herself and join the team too. All three—now four—kids have supportive coaches who push them to be the best that they can be.

I recognize that the film is largely preaching to the choir, since I doubt hateful people would be watching this documentary anyway, but I hope anyone who’s confused or uncertain about the topic of trans kids in sports watches it. I feel like no one who gives it a genuine chance could come away saying that these kids are in any way deserving of the horrific shitstorm that bigots are putting them through.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements (including discussion of suicide,) discussion of violence, and language (including transphobic insults.)

Gather (2020)

This is a beautiful documentary about food, heritage, belonging, and nature. I really appreciated each thread it follows in exploring the larger subject of Native food practices, and the film is put together wonderfully.

In the U.S., Native Americans have disproportionately high rates of diabetes. Genocide and centuries of displacement have impoverished Native communities in many ways, including their access to healthy food. However, across the country, people are returning to traditional food practices to improve health, reconnect with nature, and foster a greater sense of community and Native pride.

Like many documentaries dealing with race in America, Gather is rooted in some terrible things. We look at how Native tribes were removed from their ancestral lands, which cut them off from their heritages of hunting and gathering. We look at the boarding school system, which attempted to force assimilation on Native children and stripped them of their people’s traditions. We look at the near extinction of the buffalo, which was an environmental disaster as well as an attempted genocide against a culture that depended on them for sustenance. We look at how many Native communities now are food deserts, where, as one young man describes it, it’s literally easier to find/buy drugs than fresh produce.

But even though the documentary gets into all these injustices to establish the widespread issues at play here, the film itself is about how people from various tribes are pushing back. In the southwest, a chef and his colleagues farm Native vegetables, teach community members about traditional gathering practices, and make plans to opening a restaurant that serves healthy, nutritious dishes. In northern California, an outreach group teaches young people about cultural river fishing, helping them get in touch with their heritage while providing an alternative to gangs. In the Midwest, the daughter of a farmer with a buffalo herd studies the health advantages of buffalo meat, wanting to use conventional western science to provide evidence for Native health practices.

All of these are instances of people fighting for something more so than fighting against something. They’re fighting for the health and well-being of their communities, and that involves nutrition, but it also involves history and culture. With the Native restaurant, we meet three people who’ve struggled with addiction in the past, but embracing their cultural heritage and getting back to nature through Native food practices has been healing for them on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. With the fishing group, they’re teaching youth how to fish, but they’re also teaching them leadership skills and providing a safe place for them to belong. With the budding scientist, she’s using microscopes and chemical tests to validate what her ancestors have always known, asserting her own Native pride even as she educates on ways to reduce diabetes in her community.

In addition to all of that, it’s just a lovely film. The lush nature shots are gorgeous, as is the footage of food carefully prepared by hand. The soundtrack, both the orchestral music and the Native-composed songs, infuses the scenes with even greater emotion.

Warnings

Violence (including discussion of genocide and abuse, and killing animals while hunting,) language, and thematic elements (including discussion of racism and addiction.)