Diego Luna: Cesar Chavez (2014)

Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (2014), set mostly in California in the 1960s, focuses on Chavez (aka César Chávez) and his compadres in their efforts to improve working and living conditions for migrant farm workers. Michael Peña takes the lead role -- a seemingly low-key yet tenacious and intense one -- with Rosario Dawson as Dolores Huerta.  Using a Catholic variation on the non-violent strategies and tactics of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., the farm workers movement slowly gains traction.  

In Cesar Chavez, the "villains" come in the form of owners and their allies -- the latter including California Governor Ronald Reagan and President Richard M. Nixon. Allies of the farm workers include Senator Bobby Kennedy and various religious and union supporters. John Malkovich, weird as always, plays an owner who helps manage the immediate opposition to reform. Some Anglos continue to treat migrant workers as sub-human -- hence one of the driving demands for change.   

Today's Rune: Partnership.