NEW YORK – Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “In The Heights”, an effusive celebration of the Latino community in New York, hits theaters this Friday after a long wait, something that the lead actor hopes will raise the spirits of that sector of the American population after four years of constant attacks during the presidency of Donald Trump.
“I hope this film provides an injection of energy for Latinos, especially in the United States, but also in the rest of the world, so that they can tell their stories,” said Anthony Ramos in an interview with Efe. “Usnavi de la Vega”, the owner of a neighborhood business in New York’s Washington Heights who dreams of being able to return to his native Dominican Republic.
“We are here, and we have something to say,” underlines Ramos, who confessed that Trump’s four years in power were “hard” for Latinos, who he says have survived thanks to their “resilience.”
The film, which was initially going to hit theaters in June 2020 and was delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, immerses itself not only in the day-to-day life and aspirations of “Usnavi de la Vega”, but also praises a whole way of life for Latino society in the Washington Heights neighborhood, in northern Manhattan, where the Dominican immigrant population is concentrated.
To the rhythm of salsas, boleros and meringues, in addition to more modern genres such as freestyle rap, the musical also reflects social problems such as gentrification, or the pressure felt by the new generations of Latinos born in the United States to obtain university degrees from prestigious centers for which their parents have sacrificed a good part of their lives.
It is an adaptation of the musical that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote in 1999, responsible for the successful “Hamilton”, which responded at the time to the need for a new work that would revolve around the Latino community, since the success of ” West Side Story “was already a long way off.
Ryan Muñiz is the youngest son of the salsa singer and the former Miss Universe. Look the photos.
“I love ‘West Side Story’, I directed that play in my last year of high school, but for me it was clear that 50 years had passed and there was still nothing in which we were the center of the story,” said Miranda, who despite to being the creator of “In The Heights” and the leading actor in its Broadway version, he only has a small role in the film adaptation.
“‘In The Heights’ was my way of including myself in that narrative,” he added.
The film, which celebrated its world premiere on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the Tribeca Film Festival, “carries an almost too heavy load” due to the absence of other similar films, said the New Yorker of Puerto Rican parents.
“There is so little representation of the conventional Latino in the cinema. If you look at any study, any graph, you will see that we assume a quarter of the public that goes to the cinema, and yet we are only 4% of those who appear on the screen,” explained Miranda .
The artist confessed that he would have liked the film, directed by Jon Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians”), to have hit theaters in June 2020, as initially planned, while Trump was still in the White House and when the United States was a few months after going to the polls.
“Imagine being me, knowing it was an election year, and knowing that I had to wait a whole year for ‘In The Heights’ to come out after the election,” Miranda said of the moment she knew her would have to be delayed. premiere for the pandemic.
“I am excited to announce my alliance with Netflix. I believe there is no better home than this content creation company, which looks to the future and seeks to challenge convention,” the actress and singer said in a statement.
“Because above all (the film) humanizes us. It is a story about Latinos written by Latinos from joy and love, and that is rarely seen,” he added.
In addition, the feature film, of about two and a half hours, claims that Latinos are “in many respects the next chapter in the history of the United States,” since it is the sector of the country’s population with the highest growth, he pointed out.
Along with Anthony Ramos, the film stars Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV and Jimmy Smits, while the popular Marc Anthony makes a brief appearance in the film.
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