Synopsis

"Zoot Suit Riots" recounts a week of violence that convulsed Los Angeles in June of 1943, a conflict between Mexican-Americans and Anglos, many of whom were servicemen. Hector Elizondo chronicles the events of that hour, employing evocative recreations and interviews with historians and those who lived through it to trace a year of mounting tension leading to the riots. A pivotal moment was an August 1942 incident in which a young Mexican-American man perished. Though the defendants were also of