A song for Cesar
(DVD) 

"Beware of a movement that sings"--Case cover.

Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Larry Itliong, Jorge Santana.

In the 1960s and '70s, Cesar Chavez and farmworker activists allied with musicians and artists to help build a movement called "La Causa". A Song for Cesar tells the story of that alliance using first-person accounts of artists, musicians, members of Chavez's family, and other key figures of the movement. Inspired by the spirit of the thousands of farmworkers who struggled for justice alongside labor leaders Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong, musicians Abel Sanchez and Jorge Santana's encapsulating tribute song bookends the film, highlighting how music and the arts were essential in building the farmworkers' movement. Five studio recording sessions comprise the backbone of the film wherein the songs are also given historical and cultural context from the original artists that further anchor their place in the movement. These powerful songs serve as an artistic response to the social conditions that defined the reality of the farmworkers. Pairing rare archival footage with a wealth of prominent interviewees, we bear witness to anecdotes such as ones about Chavez's early life and work in the fields, the inception of the United Farm Workers union, the emergence of Chicano art, the role of theater in the struggle, and nonviolent action and art as a response to state and corporate violence. All of these elements form the legacy of a movement that joined social struggle and culture at the hip.

DVD.

English audio; Spanish subtitles.

Closed-captioned.