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Nuyorican Dream Eldest of five children, Robert Torres is the only family member to finish high school and graduate from college. He works as a teacher and administrator at a bilingual alternative school he co-founded. Throughout the documentary, he offers blunt observations and statistics about the legacy of colonialism, inadequate inner-city educational systems and discrimination. Robert, who is also gay, presents an example of how a professional with his background can "give back" to his community as well as the personal contradictions he lives with as a member of two worlds. The rest of Robert's family is still crammed into his weary mother Marta's Brooklyn flat, where she tries valiantly to raise her own children's children on welfare. Robert's sister, Betty, vanishes for long stretches, strung out on crack and heroin. Another sister, Tati, moves to Florida to try to get off drugs, but remains addicted. Younger brother Danny, who has spent half his life bouncing in and out of prison, says he's determined to abandon armed robbery as a way of life, but limited job prospects fail to materialize. Robert is anxious to make sure youngest sibling Millie, still untouched by pregnancy or addiction, stays out of harm's way. Laurie Collyer's
feature-length, cinema verité documentary captures the emotional immediacy
of a family in a free-fall without a social safety net. It makes clear
that the heart-felt efforts of individuals like Robert Torres alone
can never rescue this and subsequent generations from the knot of poverty.
Nuyorican Dream celebrates elements of community life- solidarity,
sharing of resources, cultural citizenship- which make day-to-day survival
possible. The film also is a testimony of the central role played by
Puerto Rican women in maintaining family and cultural ties. Read an Online Review of Nuyorican Dream from the Multi Cultural Journal Review |
"This astoundingly
intimate film.The
dual perspective Robert Torres offers, of someone who belongs to the
family yet sees beyond its insular world, lends the film wrenching authenticity."
"Their refusal
to lose hope, and Robert's high-principled influence, make Nuyorican
Dream
inspiring as well as frequently devastating. An outstanding work of
verite observation." "A devastating,
intimate portrayal of the risiliency and hope, of the strength of family
bonds and the radical possibilities of education to effect social change." "Through
Robert Torres' family life, Laurie Collyer has captured some of the
obstacles faced by Puerto Ricans in the U.S.. This documentary will
be of interest to educators and students in Puerto Rican, Latino/a,
Carribean, Racial and Ethnic, Urban and Women's Studies." Producer: Laurie
Collyer, Julia Pimsleur and Katy Chevigny Director: Laurie Collyer This release made possible through generous cooperation of HBO.
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Nuyorican
Dream
follows five years in the life of a New York Puerto Rican family struggling
against poverty, drug addiction, and incarceration- the flip side of
the American Dream. 
