"American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez."

It would be hard to say if the efforts of the United Farm Workers and the Chicano Movement would have reached the eyes and ears of so many farmworkers and consumers alike without El Teatro Campesino (Spanish for "The Farmworker's Theater"). Founded in 1965 by playwright, director, and impresario Luis Valdez, himself the son of a farmworker, the company's improvised skits and scenes brought the Delano grape strike screaming into the American consciousness from 1965 through 1967. Valdez would go on to create the first Chicano play on Broadway, "Zoot Suit," and the 1987 biopic of musician Ritchie Valens, "La Bamba," further cementing the place of Chicano voices and arts for future generations. His story is expertly told in David Alvarado's new documentary, "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez."

Through the arresting voice of Edward James Olmos, whose breakout role was in the 1979 production of "Zoot Suit," we learn that the Pachuco was a term used to describe Mexican American men with a spectacular sense of style in the 1930s and 1940s in Los Angeles. This name came to define a time when Latinos faced racism and violence as their communities began to take root in major cities. It is Olmos' Pachuco who leads us through Valdez's own journey to be heard.

Valdez, now in his 80s, guides viewers through his life with all the skill and vibrance of a gifted bard. His descriptions paint vivid pictures, and an extraordinary amount of archival footage gives testimony to the truth of his words. Interviews with Valdez's brother Danny Valdez, Cheech Marin, Dolores Huerta, Lou Diamond Phillips, Taylor Hackford, and many other peers and family members are woven throughout with expert care. We learn through his work how powerful satire and well timed comedy can be in turning the tide of public thought. Valdez describes the split between himself and his oldest brother, who denied his roots in search of the American Dream; we also see the importance of staying true to one’s past.

As ICE raids pepper the headlines and racism is again on the rise in the United States, "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez" stands as a testament that these struggles are as cyclical as they are dangerous. While the documentary tiptoes around the subject of Cesar Chavez, it gives respectful space to Dolores Huerta. Its overriding message is that voices and the arts have the capacity to change the tide of injustice.

The term Rasquachismo is touched on, a theory developed by scholar Tomás Ybarra Frausto that describes "a perspective of the oppressed, a view from los de abajo." It is a philosophy Valdez embraced as he "made the most from the least." If Teatro Campesino could not afford props, they made them with what they had on hand. If the budget for "La Bamba" was woefully small, Valdez took it in stride and used what he had to create one of the first major studio successes by a Latino director. He did it while earning the respect of a crew that was initially reluctant to give it. Rasquachismo means making it happen with what you have and making it, as Valdez puts it, "so funky that nothing can undermine you."

While I never met Luis Valdez personally, I did have the opportunity to work with his brother Danny, who appeared in many of his projects, including "Zoot Suit" and "La Bamba," while I was in high school. As the child of an immigrant who had accepted ingrained racism as a given, the lessons Danny brought from his Teatro Campesino days were a revelation. They inspired me to create something from nothing but determination and to reject the acceptance of racism. Not only to reject it, but to answer it with humor, a smile, and an opportunity to find common ground. "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez" is a powerful illustration of how and why we need artists and movements like these in politically divided times.

You can see "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez" at the Rafael Film Center, hosted by the California Film Institute, through Aug. 13. Tickets are available through the California Film Institute website.