Both the popular play and film “Zoot Suit” was written and directed by Luis Valdez. Luis Valdez regarded as the father of Chicano theater in the United States. He directed this film based on a story involving the real-life events of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial and the Zoot Suit Riots, and it was debuted in 1981. Besides that, the movie could not be successful without the actors’ acting, such as Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos, and Tyne Daly. Through the film, I clearly feel the discrimination between Whites and Mexican Americans. Moreover, this discrimination brought about unwanted struggles in the society at the time.
The film began with Henry Reyna (Daniel Valdez) and his 38th Street Gang members headed to a local dance. After that, he heard the noises coming from the Williams’ Ranch, so he and his friends decided to go there without knowing that ranch was just harassed by the Downey Gang. Henry and the 38th Street Gang members were mistaken that they killed Jose Williams, an occupant of the Williams’ ranch. After that, they were soon arrested and charged with the murder of Jose Williams. While the boys sat in San Quentin Prison, Zoot Suit
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He intermixed Henry’s incident and the Zoot Suit Riots together because these incidents are almost similar. Both of them talk about the racism between Whites and Mexican Americans. Only Mexicans, who wore zoot suits were attached by the sailors even though Mexicans were not the only people wearing zoot suits. The images of Mexican Americans youth were forced to take off their zoot suits to burn made the film more realistic and dramatic. Besides that, the image, music, and the sound also contributed to the success of the film. The sound of the door was shut in the dark, the sound of people yelling, and the image of the fire all made up the conflict of the film. We can say that Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero are successful in featuring music for the