Adelante

Filmmaker Noam Osband's gentle look at an unexpected transformation within a greater Philadelphia parish church serves up an affirmation of America's melting-pot, making it a particularly well-timed documentary for a social and political climate in which southern-border immigration is a focus of much anxiety and outright dread. Founded in 1835, St. Patrick's in Norristown, PA, was languishing from a dwindling Irish-Catholic population until an influx of migrant workers from Mexico brought a fresh generation of worshippers and church-community members (it helps that resident Father William Murphy, the kind of priest who gives priests a good name, speaks fluent Spanish). Soon the church is resounding with the music of mariachi bands, with masses held in celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Mexicans bringing their cooking to a meeting of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Viewers are told that Irish-Americans and Mexican-Americans both maintain a fervent passion for their respective homelands (and families and faith), strongly suggesting that the Mexican newcomers are no more of a threat to the USA than were the generations of assimilated Irish who formed the bedrock of this church and town. A solid documentary on ethnic bridge-building, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)