It’s tradition over the Thanksgiving weekend to gather with family to have a large meal and see a movie. This year’s offerings include the romantic comedy “Say a Little Prayer,” which has broken the mold on nearly every front to get this movie onto a big screen and is receiving much praise for positively representing the Latina/o community.
“I loved this film. It was beautiful and means so much to me to hear my Mayan culture mentioned in this film,” said Sara Mijares, a member of the Mundo Maya organization in Los Angeles.
She watched the movie with a friend from Oaxaca, who laughed loudly throughout the film and said he just could not believe that something so dear to him was reflected in a feature film, so much so that he actually gasped.
“When I heard the word ‘Guelaguetza’ I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “My friend just invited me and I had no idea what this was about, but for the first time I felt like I was up there.”
“I loved the film. The views of San Antonio were amazing and so was the music,” said Alexandra Castro, who has seen the film three times and will see it a fourth time this weekend. “My mom loves Luis Fonsi so I can’t wait to bring her. Each time I see the movie, it grows on me even more.”
Fonsi, who is celebrating his film acting debut, also wrote and performed a ballad and the official song – “Prayer in Your Eyes” – for the movie, which successfully has you humming it long after you leave the theater.
One Japanese American woman said she related to the film, too. “It was a lot of fun. I think every culture has aunties like the two we see in the film who put in their two cents,” she said.
The appreciation for representation on the screen is echoed over and over by moviegoers.
Latina organizations have brought their members to watch it as a group.
“I love the diversity within the Latino community and this film showed it. I was happy to see three Latina leading actors, Vivian Lamolli, Vannessa Vasquez and Jackie Cruz, who are Dominican, Puerto Rican/Cuban and Mexican American,” said Lydia Ramos. “How often do you see that? We are supposed to be grateful if there is one role given to us.”
“It’s about time. I finally saw a film that has people that look like me and they aren’t playing a maid or a criminal,” said Raquel Arellano, expressing a thread of similar sentiments.
“This movie helps people to know that we are just like everyone else – we fall in love, have heartbreak and why not pray to St. Anthony to find our keys and help us find a good husband too?” she laughed.
This story about Latina sisterhood, family and love is written and produced by Nancy De Los Santos-Reza and also produced by Cristina Nava.
The independent filmmakers with other dedicated members of the team, tired of Hollywood’s refusal year after year to greenlight their stories, raised the money themselves from Latina and Latino entrepreneurs who understood the importance of investing in a film with Latinos abundantly in front and behind the camera. In the final phase of funding the film, they left no stone unturned and successfully applied for a grant.
“For the number of years the Eastside Arts Initiative (EAI) has supported local artists, it was a proud moment to see EAI grant recipient Nancy De Los Santos’ film ‘Say a Little Prayer’ hit the AMC theater screens across the country,” said Richard Yniguez, EAI council member.
“Say a Little Prayer” about the power of praying to St. Anthony – fittingly was filmed in San Antonio, Texas and is a love letter to the sparkling city and its historic Latino community. The film was inspired by a conversation De Los Santos-Reza had with her grandmother in her hometown of Chicago when she first ventured out seeking success as an independent professional. In her later years, she recalled her grandmother’s advice finding that you can be a woman with ambition and still want someone to love to share your life with and get married.
“The world knows us often by what they see of us in movies,” said De Los Santos-Reza. She pointed out that when the images are consistently negative it leads to being unjustly viewed, especially in this current political climate.
“This is more than positively representing the community, it’s about realistically portraying who we are.”