Product Details

• Actors: Rosie Perez, Pedro Pietri, Sixto Ramos, Ramon Rodriguez, Jimmy Smits
• Directors: Rosie Perez, Liz Garbus
• Writers: Roger M. Sherman
• Producers: Rosie Perez, Liz Garbus, Alison Palmer Bourke, Evan Shapiro, Julie Gaither
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Red Envelope Ent
• DVD Release Date: June 5, 2007
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000HC2M3O
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #39,603 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The famous Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City jump-starts Rosie Perez's witty take on Puerto Rican culture. The parade marches to its own ecstatic beat, as does its people through triumph and indignity. Perez, the Academy Award®-nominated actress turned filmmaker, never lets the footing get too heavy. She and codirector Oscar®-nominated documentarian Liz Garbus enlighten through humor and Perez's own sparkling presence. Weaving snippets of Perez and her family with thought-provoking history narrated by actor Jimmy Smits, the filmmakers render a pastiche of unbridled optimism. The title is a contagious colloquial chant of the island's indigenous people, the Taíno. Puerto Ricans do not doubt their identity, the subjects of the film tell us, but they are determined to let the rest of the world know who they are. Pride, often an overused word, comes alive in a documentary that goes down as easily as a frothy cocktail-and still packs a punch. American exploitation and the fight for political clout are no laughing matters but Boricua shows that toughness sometimes means laughing in the face of such obstacles. In one funny bit, Perez encounters an acute case of mistaken perception on her way to a speaking engagement. As her brethren illustrate throughout the film, the show must go on. Puerto Ricans' contributions to the arts and their inextricable link to New York City (Perez grew up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, just so you know!) reveal the beating heart of a small island whose arteries course throughout society. - Ron Dicker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grateful Nuyorican..., November 7, 2006

By	E. A. Perez "Salsera" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm 24 yrs old, born in the Bronx, 100% Boricua and I'm so thankful that Rosie did this project. I was able to relate to it easily, I was drawn by the information provided and the places visited and it truly inspired me to want to go deeper into my history as a puertorriqueńa... I feel that Rosie did an excellent job, and i'm not looking at it as a student, activist, intellectual, i saw it as a young women flipping channels and happened to catch the first minutes of it on the Independent Film Channel and was hooked. I'm glad she didn't put more into it b/c it left me wanting to do some research of my own but I'm glad that she related herself and some of her own family "bochinche" to help those watching realize that we are all alike... Please support this documentary, it may pave the way for others to come that may suffice in the areas in which this one may have lacked for some.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Puerto Ricans 101, August 15, 2006

By	Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This film consists of two dynamics. First, Rosie and some of her same-age relatives visit the Island, discuss family history, attend the Puerto Rican Parade in New York, etc. Second, Jimmy Smits narrates important parts of Puerto Rican, including Nuyorican history, such as Taino culture, governmental sterilization, military exploitation of Vieques, etc.

Some have critiqued the documentary saying it is too-focused on Rosie and that she somewhat "dumbs down" the subject matter. However, I think Rosie produced and directed it and so this may be her first ventures in those positions. I also think her presence was to make the work easily viewable by laypeople and not just academics, activists, and students. The documentary tries hard to interview men and women equally, but it still leans more toward men. Thus, Rosie's presence may be a gender-mitigating matter. I really think this work is meant for young Puerto Ricans to see. Thus, I am surprised that it has so much cursing in it. Jimmy Smits did an excellent job in narrating the work. I hope that he gets more narration opportunities as Morgan Freeman, Susan Sarandon, and Harvey Fierstein have.

Given time and budget constraints, this work had to cursorily touch many issues. Still, I thought more could have been said about Puerto Rican music and syncretic religious practices. Rosie and her relative Sixto mention African ancestry as if it were just one of many flavors in the Puerto Rican mix. However, huge percentages of Caribbeans are part-Black and I wish this had been emphasized. Jimmy Smits too skips over Black matters by first talking about the indigenous islanders and then skipping to the American capture of the island from the Spanish. The more than 300 years of African slavery that only ended in 1873 barely comes up. Rosie refers to Dr. Albizu Campos as "our Martin Luther King," but no one mentions the many similarities between the Puerto Rican Young Lords and the African-American Black Panthers. This is odd given that I heard Black Americans and Puerto Ricans get along really well in New York City, especially among the elected officials.

This would be a great work for those who do not anything about Puerto Ricans. I think this would be great to watch alongside of reading "Puerto Ricans in the United States" by Maria Perez y Gonzalez.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's Just Awful-PERIOD!, June 5, 2008

By	Crescenzo C. Capece "d'caborojo" (NYNJPR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Don't let my name fool you, I know the Island of Puerto Rico and the people of the island well.It's a great place with many many wonderful people.
Granted, the slant here is on a Nuyorican viewpoint, except that
Rosie Perez and company never really get to a concrete reason of what and why they should be so "proud". Instead, she concentrates on the style of displays the annual parades emphasize,NOT on the real struggles and culture of the island, and why the status problem, at this stage is
actually OFFENSIVE.
This vanity project should never have been green lighted, and likely was done only because of ignorance; you won't really learn much about Puerto Rico here.
Boricuas deserve better....sorry,Rosie.