El Corrido de Cecilia Rios

"I will sing the verses of a sad story/which I keep in my memory/impossible to forget." This is the opening verse of the doleful, enormously moving corrido (ballad) sung by the student folksong group, Los Cenzontles, which forms the emotional and structural core of this short film about the violent death of a teenage girl in a Latino neighborhood in Richmond, California. Using a montage of jump-cut and processed video footage, as well as sounds that include broadcast news reports, the voice-over laments of Cecilia's classmates, and impressionistic images from Cecilia's school and community, El Corrido broadly sketches the circumstances of Cecilia's tragic death and provides a sense of the enormous impact of this tragedy on her family and friends. As heartfelt as this piece is, however, one is sent away wishing for more information, more substance, and a clearer picture of Cecilia's life other than its brutal end. In viewing El Corrido, I was reminded of those makeshift shrines one increasingly encounters on the mean streets of big cities-ad hoc monuments to the victims of urban violence. Passing those hastily-left offerings--the flowers and candles and trinkets that represent a complex life--the observer walks away with little more than a generalized sense of sadness and loss. An interesting, although not essential, addition to larger public library collections and academic library collections in Chicano/Latino studies. Aud: H, C, P. (G. Handman)