Mi Puerto Rico

Viewing Mi Puerto Rico, I was both astounded and ashamed by the realization of how little I knew about this small archipelago, its rich cultural history, and its long and tangled relations with the United States. The general invisibility of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans in standard history text books and in public consciousness (outside of media-bred stereotypes) is exactly a point which Raquel Ortiz, the producer and excellent narrator of Mi Puerto Rico, makes early in the video. Ortiz uses her return to the South Bronx barrio of her childhood, a meditation on cultural identity, and a trip to Puerto Rico to frame a smartly conceived and engagingly told cultural and political history of Puerto Rico, from its 16th-century colonization by Spain, to the present. Central to this story are two Puerto Rican political leaders, who represent the fractious and often violent internal politics of the country over the last century: Pedro Albizu Campos, the firebrand hero of the island's militant Nationalist Party, and the moderate Luis Munoz Marin, the first democratically-elected governor of the islands. Albizu Campos' story is particularly dramatic--a life spent in and out of prisons in a passionate anti-colonial crusade for "bread, land, and freedom." In the end, Ortiz is careful to make the point that while the intense conflicts between nationalistas, pro-statehood advocates, and supporters of the political status quo have continued unabated to this day, there is one unifying belief among Puerto Ricans, both on the islands and in the U.S., which has remained consistent over time--the conviction that cultural dignity and integrity must be preserved. Mi Puerto Rico is an essential addition to any library interested in American cultures, Latin American Studies, or U.S. foreign relations. Aud: C, P. (G. Handman)