This potent story of a new generation of young boxers in East Los Angeles, the capital of American boxing, chronicles (in a raw verité style) the lives of three teenage boys – the fierce 12 year old, Victor Pasillas, and the 15 year old twins Oscar and Javier Molina, their trainers, their families and their years in the tough ranks of amateur boxing-where boys are made into men and Olympic dreams are made and broken. Shot over a period of four years and amid the immigration protests of 2006, the film tells a definitive story of immigration in a city where the new Latino population is surging.
BORN AND BRED illustrates how the sport of sports-boxing-can lift the persistent few out of poverty as it did for so many other American ethnic groups. But, the stakes are high and these young champions know it. Says Paisllas, who has not lost a fight in three years, “When I get in that ring, I look across it to see if my opponent has any heart. If he doesn’t, I take him out right away. If he does…I take it away from him. I make sure he has no heart.”
RUNNING TIME: 94 minutes; Not Rated (contains strong language)
OPENS August 19 at LA’s THE DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENT and NY’S QUAD CINEMA
