BOUND BY HONOR

In BOUND BY HONOR, three Mexican boys grow up together in East Los Angeles: Pedro, the toughest kid in the barrio; Cruz, who gets a scholarship for his paintings; and, Miklo, who has the light hair and blue eyes of his father, who hates Chicanos and whom Miklo hates in turn. Gang warfare with its twisted concept of “honor” ruins the lives of Miklo and Cruz. On the night of his graduation from high school, Cruz seriously mangled by a rival gang. To get even, Miklo kills Spider, their leader. Miklo is caught and sent to San Quentin. He finds that the guards are corrupt and the prisoners have their own gangs. Miklo is told to kill Big Al, who hates all of the black and Hispanic prisoners. Miklo develops into a hardened convict. Cruz experiments with drugs, and his little brother, Juan, dies of an overdose. This plunges Cruz even deeper into drug use until he is restored by the forgiveness of his family. Pedro learns a clearer sense of “honor” in the Marine Corps, and becomes a police detective upon his discharge, which pits him against his cousin and “blood brother” Miklo.

This is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat type movie with an impressive striving for authenticity. BOUND BY HONOR is filled with extensive violence and some truly appalling scenes in which the homosexual Big Al attempts to seduce Miklo. The hate which permeates the film will keep the normal, kind-hearted viewer away from it.