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Harsh Times - saynomore - 11-25-2006
Christian Bale has done it again--created a mesmerizing character for the big screen. Not since The Machinist (thanks, Gerald, for the recommendation) has a character of Bale's caught me by the psyche.
Harsh Times deals with an East Los homeboy, played by Bale with some incredible insight into the mind of a Chemo (Ch from Cheerios and the emo from demo).
This is not a stereotypic "cholo" from the "barrio" pic as many Hollywood pics depict L.A. Eastsiders; it is the gang member who owns a home, has bills to pay and a family to support, but is also locked into his gang lifestyle (tattoos must be covered up during those job interviews).
As producer, Bale does not let this movie sink into the stereotypic "latinos," but neither does he fear aiming the camera into that mirror called East L.A.
Bale also captures the languages of the family, friends, the streets, each a variant of Spanish, Spanglish, English, Pachuco, Chemo, Hip-Hop, and TV-Speak. Someone did an excellent job of researching the various uses of language by Latinos in East L.A. I never thought I'd hear the language I speak with my brothers and friends so accurately captured.
Bale also shows Boyle Heights without a Romantic smear of vasoline on the camera lens. This is the everyday East Los that I meet old friends in, that I have lunch in, that I travel on my way to East L.A. College to teach in. (Compare the Boyle Heights from The New Centurians or the fictionalized Lincoln Heights from The Flashlight by Eldridge Cleaver).
And it is also a very good movie in the tradition of Training Day. Don't give this movie a pass. Hepa!
AC
Harsh Times - HaroldDemure - 11-26-2006
thanks for the reccomendation. this movie sounds fantastic, i will definitely check it out.