“Cesar Chavez: An American Hero” is the right way to make a biography movie that shows the history of an important event in time. From beginning to end, the film will have you on a rollercoaster of emotions from happy to sad and back again.

It follows Cesar Chavez, one of the most important civil rights leaders of the modern era, and the struggle between the farm workers and the growers. He was the leader of the National Farmworkers Association, which later becomes the United Farm Workers of America, which helped get fair wages for all the farmer workers.

The sacrifices and hardships that Chavez went through to help lead these workers to victory was inspirational and this movie showed, with great acting from Michael Peña, those struggles perfectly.

Peña plays Chavez and is very good at playing the firm but soft-spoken leader. Peña shows so much emotion in the movie especially during the 25-day fast where he was struggling with not sleeping very well and becoming weak because he didn’t eat.

America Ferrera plays Helen Chavez, Cesar’s wife, and does a great job at showing raw emotion on screen, especially when she chose to be martyr for the cause and yelled “Huelga,” which means strike in spanish, to the sheriff and the other officers patroling the grape fields after the word was banned from being used.

There is also a point in the movie when she looks on the brink of tears and completely spaced out in the kitchen during Chavez’s 25 day long fast. You could see the fear and worry in her eyes as the son asks if everything is ok.

Another great character in the story was Dolores Huerta, played by Rosario Dawson was not featured as much as I would have liked her to be since she co-founded the NFA with Chavez and played a big role in the movement.

I personally think that Huerta should have her own movie that follows her life during this time because she was such a strong and independent woman, and Dawson does a perfect job of capturing that.

I went into this movie thinking it was going to be another dull history movie that doesn’t really showcase why it was made in the first place. I am not old enough to remember this time in history, but I have always found it interesting. “Cesar Chavez” is a must-see movie for everyone. 5 out of 5 Stars