CESAR-CHAVEZ movieActor Michael Peña plays leading role in the movie Cesar Chavez.  Playing Chavez is an irresistible opportunity for any Mexican-American actor, so it will be interesting to see how Peña does.

Chavez in the movie is presented as a peaceful activist, far removed from the fiery personalities of more radical activists of the time. Where other civil rights figures wrestled with inner demons or had their lives tragically cut short, Chavez’s biggest vice was that he cared too much and didn’t always put his family first.

The Arizona-born organizer opened a national conversation that still rages today about the role of America’s invisible immigrant labor force, whose undocumented status allowed employers to exploit their working conditions. Can Pena nor deliver the necessary dynamism to sufficiently re-create a movement that by and large did not have the kind of coverage other movements of that time had in the mainstream?

Chavez lead a movement, his revolution was passive. When more volatile Latinos want to fight back against police abuse, he preached passive resistance. And when his more agitated allies drag their feet about embracing his nonviolent policies, Chavez pledged to starve himself. This kind of personality requires a very skilled actor who believes in this passive way of resistance.

Peña will have a struggle to capture the real Chavez. The movie will be released on March 28, 2014.