Movie Analysis: Cesar Chavez

Before reading or watching the film, I knew little about Cesar Chavez. I only knew that he fought for the rights of farm workers, but had no idea of how he achieved it. I was surprised to learn about some of his innovations that later lead to his success. Especially since some were already used by other strong leaders previously from him. The two innovations that stood out to me the most were the use of nonviolence and boycotting. Both innovations helped Cesar Chavez in achieving fair rights for other farm workers. These innovations are still used and seen today since they have been effective in accomplishing change.

One of Caesar’s innovations was the use of nonviolence. He believed that no one had the right to take the life away from another human being. During the film, this concept was shown. There were scenes that showed supporters protesting with signs that stated “Huelga”, and during these protests there were no signs of violence acts. Cesar Chavez knew that his supporters were starting to lose patience, and tried to convince them not to use violence. But there was a group of people who didn’t believe in nonviolence. So, they formed their own group and did their own protest.

Nowadays, this concept of using nonviolence is hard to achieve. This is because people think that peaceful protest aren’t effective compared to taking action with their hands. One example is the Blacks Lives Matter Movement. Although there are peaceful protest, there are times when people turn violent against police. This can be counterintuitive since watching these harsh actions by protestors, people start forming negative views about the organization. This leads to people not supporting the cause anymore. Without the support of the public, an organization can’t