It ought to be required viewing -- on both sides of the border.

| Nov 2, 2021

[Audiences will] get plenty for their money: powerful acting, flint-clean cinematography, a riveting story that transcends geographical boundaries, and a touch of the supernatural thrown in for good measure.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 3, 2021

There is no question El Norte is one-sided, even propagandistic and sentimental at times, but its emotional and visual power supersedes some of its predictability.

| Aug 3, 2021

Through the efforts of cinematographer James Glennon, Nava has almost succeeded in matching the unique style of Latin American writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez whose tales are a vibrant mixture of fantasy and reality.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 3, 2021

El Norte is an epic story told on a small, intimate human scale.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 3, 2021

Things go wrong in fairly predictable ways and the movie's last 15 minutes are undeniably maudlin. But by then we're so caught up in Enrique and Rosa's struggles, it's easy to forgive the film's unabashed sentimentality.

| Aug 3, 2021

El Norte gives us a vision of the downside of the American dream. The film's concentration on the plight of its young hopefuls, however, is done with much humour and compassion, so that the tragedy of its message is very bracing.

| Aug 3, 2021

Despite its length and sadness, a tolerant viewer will appreciate the portrait of the intricacies of a hidden culture in El Norte.

| Aug 3, 2021

I very much doubt if you'll have seen anything quite like El Norte before.

| Aug 3, 2021

It's inspired fiction that conveys levels of truth and humanity that usually elude the most well-meaning of documentaries.

| Aug 3, 2021

Simplicity and warmth are the abiding strengths of the beautifully made El Norte, a tragic but often funny film about life's cruel unfairness.

| Aug 3, 2021

It is a sad story of people with small hope of escape: but Gregory Nava (who co-wrote it with his producer Anna Thomas) skilfully relieves it with the element of sentimental melodrama.

| Aug 3, 2021

This is not a political movie in the normal sense. There is no message, except about contrasts.

| Aug 3, 2021

El Norte is a good film that suffers from too much intention.

| Aug 3, 2021

Thomas and Nava have succeeded in giving us a lot to ponder, but above all they have told a very moving story of human adventure.

| Aug 3, 2021

The overall effect is intense, exhilarating and troubling. It's a great movie.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 3, 2021

It's this simple division in hun the sums of human misery and happiness that makes the story work.

| Aug 3, 2021

The Navas have made an independent feature of far more style and substance than low-budget circumstances and well-meaning intentions usually allow.

| Aug 3, 2021

What I remember with greatest pleasure about EI Norte are those individual scenes of clarity and illumination.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 3, 2021

In the strictest sense, it's an instance of a film maker exceeding his grasp in pursuit of a noble goal. But if you are able to overlook its awkwardness and contrivances, El Norte can be a deeply affecting and illuminating experience.

| Aug 3, 2021