El Norte (1983)

Brother and sister Enrique (David Villalpando) and Rosa (Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez) flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life. It's a story that happens every day, but until Gregory Nava's groundbreaking El Norte (The North), the personal travails of immigrants crossing the border to America had never been shown in the movies with such urgent humanism. A work of social realism imbued with dreamlike imagery, 'El Norte' is a lovingly rendered, heartbreaking story of hope and survival, which critic Roger Ebert called a 'Grapes of Wrath' for our time.