East Los Angeles Walk Outs

The year 1968 was bombarded with momentous events that undoubtedly changed the course of history. The film Walkout managed to recapture and revitalize some of the events such as the East Los Angeles Walk Outs or also known as the Chicano Blowouts. Director Edward James Olmos, did a superb job when portraying the events that occurred in March 1968 in addition to the ways Chicano and Chicana students were being taken advantage of by the Los Angeles Unified School District in order to save money. In this review, however, I will be elaborating on how the school district demonstrated institutional inequality towards its students and how it resulted in some characters to undergo a transformation. At the same time, I will be describing how the film

She started out as a very shy, soft-spoken girl and later on became more outspoken and not afraid to take chances for what was right. The amount of institutional inequality high school Mexican-Americans were having to endure was immoral and demeaning and Paula had enough of it. After not being allowed to use the restrooms at lunch, Paula created a survey for her peers asking questions about inequality at the school. At this point in time she took on more of a leadership role and was highly respected by her classmates. As the film went on, Paula was seen as the most influential character especially after being the first one to stand up in class and actually “walk out”. Paula was even responsible for gathering the protest outside the city hall in order to get all twelve of the people arrested because of the protests freed which included her teacher, Sal Castro. After experiencing inequality such as not being able to speak other languages, not being able to use the restrooms at lunch, being ignored by the school district, and brutally beaten by police for protesting peacefully, Paula reached deep down inside and transformed into a successful and courageous

For example, in the beginning of the film, the director used editing to include a scene from later on the movie to add confusion. The scene was when Paula was standing alone in the hallways of her school, when suddenly a herd of students come rushing down the halls being beaten by police officers. This scene was an example of foreshadowing and appeared later in the film. However, it immediately caught my attention and I began asking myself questions concerning what was occurring. The film’s cinematography was also unique and stood out to me. As Paula and the other leaders of the movement were protesting outside the school, I noticed that the scenes were filmed from a variety of perspectives. For example, when Paula was standing on top of a car shouting, the camera shot the scene at a low angle which made Paula seem larger and suggested a feeling of