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Nuyorican Dream

Play trailer Nuyorican Dream Released Jan 1, 2000 1h 37m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 1 Reviews 88% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Filmmaker Laurie Collyer traces a year in the lives of the Gutierrez family, Nuyoricans who eke out a hardscrabble existence in Brooklyn. Robert, a schoolteacher, has escaped the clutch of poverty, but he's the sole exception. Brother Danny is in and out of jail, sister Beatriz is a former teenage mother with a drug problem, and long-suffering family matriarch Marta quietly struggles to support her grandchildren with what little money welfare and her job as a street vendor provide.

Critics Reviews

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Christopher Null Filmcritic.com Rated: 3/5 May 27, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This move was so heart-wrenching and gripping for me, partly due to my experience of the massive gentrification of Williamsburg, Brooklyn where I was born, raised and still reside. I also wonder what has happened to many of the Brooklyn Boricua families like the one depicted in this film. Where are they and how are they holding up in 2014? I really wonder about the family in this film and how they must be today. The kids are very cute and despite everything so full of hope that things will get better. The ending scene with the great matriarch of this clan was so powerful and touching. Tears couldn't even really express what I truly felt as I identified on so many levels with the grief, the desire for a change in circumstances and the fight to try to make that happen. This film depicts a struggle with heroes, casualties, despair and hope all at once. I HIGHLY recommend for all Boricuas wanting to understand a tragic slice of the Nuyorican saga that still has a hero at the end of it. More heroes like this one are needed in our community. Robert Torres is the real-life hero in this 2000 movie filmed from 1995-1999 and today he's still in education and has even spoken at TEDx. As the eldest of five, he was trying to be a role model for his own family, as they desperately needed one. Since then he's gone on to get a PhD and still educates. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Depressing what mixing poverty, no education & drugs can do... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member I LOVE this documentry it made me cry and laugh and made me think of my very own family. I would like to know whats going on with the family now. Good watch must see Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A raw display of poverty, and how it's feeling of helplessness destroy it's youths' ambitions. It sets 3 of 4 of Jr's siblings on paths of self-destruction through typical concrete jungle trappings, those of drugs and the personal & public crimes the need for them fosters. The film captures this family's fractured whole with silent truths. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member While this documentary is difficult to watch because it's very sobering, it's also something that's important to see. Far too many people in this country take what they have for granted, and this film was a definite eye-opener for me. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member i spent a lot of time wondering where everyone is now and how everyone is doing. it's a good film but a depressing look at how poverty, a failed education system, and drugs have let members of this family to suffer. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Nuyorican Dream

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Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Laurie Collyer traces a year in the lives of the Gutierrez family, Nuyoricans who eke out a hardscrabble existence in Brooklyn. Robert, a schoolteacher, has escaped the clutch of poverty, but he's the sole exception. Brother Danny is in and out of jail, sister Beatriz is a former teenage mother with a drug problem, and long-suffering family matriarch Marta quietly struggles to support her grandchildren with what little money welfare and her job as a street vendor provide.
Director
Laurie Collyer
Producer
Laurie Collyer, Julia Pimsleur, Katy Chevigny
Production Co
Big Mouth Productions
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 1, 2000, Original
Runtime
1h 37m