Please, Don’t Bury Me Alive! / ¡Por favor, no me entierren vivo!
A film by Efraín Gutiérrez
USA, Crime/Drama, 1976
81 min, 16mm, Color
Spanglish
Director Efraín Gutiérrez in attendance
This film was screened as a part of the 2014 Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF17)
Alejandro Hernández has just buried his brother, who died in Vietnam. Caught between inadequate education and scant job opportunities, Alejandro drifts into a life of crime, mostly small theft, whereupon an undercover police officer sets him up for a heroin deal. Alejandro then faces a biased judicial system, receiving a ten year sentence, while another character, the son of a wealthy businessman, receives probation for a similar offence. By the end of the film, Alejandro has become aware of the social inequities facing him, while also realizing that he has made bad choices that do not look ahead to the future of his own community.
Credits
Producer: Efraín Gutiérrez
Production Companies: Chicano Arts Enterprises
Screenwriter: Sabino Garza
Cinematographer: David Pena
Editor: Jack Landman
Cast: Efraín Gutiérrez, Josefina Faz, David Moss, Abel Franco, Oscar Escamilla, Jose Armando de Hoyos, Margarita Armando de Hoyos
Print Source: 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive
