Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Los Tigres del Norte at Folsom Prison’ on Netflix, a Thoughtful, Socially Progressive Concert Documentary

Netflix concert documentary Los Tigres del Norte at Folsom Prison was filmed 50 years after Johnny Cash recorded his legendary live album at the California institution. The film doesn’t exist simply in the tradition of artists performing for prison populations — Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Frank Sinatra, B.B. King, Metallica, etc. — but it fits the Mexican norteño band’s ideology of singing fiery political songs about society’s downtrodden and forgotten people. You won’t be surprised to learn that Cash played to precisely zero Latinos, or that the prison’s Latino population shot up to 43 percent since then. That’s why Los Tigres del Norte wanted to play there — and why the doc clearly isn’t yet another flimsy, indulgent promotional piece.

LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE AT FOLSOM PRISON: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Los Tigres del Norte are Latin-music icons — the San Jose, Calif.-via-Mexico group formed in 1968, has performed thousands of concerts and has sold tens of millions of albums. In April, 2018, they set up in the Folsom Prison yard outside the chapel and played for 800 inmates. Many inmates are longtime fans, some of whom director Tom Donahue interviews and briefly profiles. Their stories range from confessional to self-reflective to one man’s earnest claim that he’s wrongly imprisoned — and they fit all-too-keenly with Los Tigres lyrics about government officials “waging war at the border” or how America is “a cage made of gold.” (Notably, the band avoided playing its famous “narcocorridos,” or songs about Mexican drug cartels, in agreement with conditions set by prison officials.)

A mild plot twist occurs midway through the documentary: Los Tigres also played at the Folsom women’s penitentiary, where a quarter of the 400 inmates are Latina. Where violence is a common theme of many of the male prisoners’ stories, the womens’ frequently involve addiction. The band members, quite notably, aren’t among the talking-head interviews; they’re present in live footage and scenes in which they meet with fans, but this isn’t their story.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Los Tigres del Norte at Folsom Prison would make a nice double feature with the A+ Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

Performance Worth Watching: Manuel Mena is in prison for murder. He used to have his own norteño band, and plays accordion with Los Tigres on stage. We might see this as questionable — how many law-abiding citizens would do anything to play with their idols? — if Mena wasn’t earnest of character, and an argument for a person’s potential to be rehabilitated.

Memorable Dialogue: “We wrote our version with Johnny’s family, and gave it a shot of tequila,” Jorge Hernandez says in voiceover, talking about their interpretation of Cash’s iconic Folsom Prison Blues.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: The Mena-plays-with-the-band moments illustrate the film’s subtext about forgiveness, hope and openness. Although Los Tigres del Norte’s music sounds old-fashioned — it’s chock-full of waltzing polka beats and warbling vibrato vocals — but lyrically, they’re bold and progressive. They’ve been criticized for their narcocorridos, which some interpret as glorifying criminals, but which the band says are critical of Mexican drug policy. In that context, it’s not surprising to see them embrace violent offenders, especially fellow Latinos and Latinas, somewhat fearlessly, in the spirit of hope.

The inmates’ stories tend to be vague, but I don’t think Los Tigres’ intent with the film is to get into nitty-gritty details. The film’s overall tone is similar to their songs, which have broad, plaintive appeal, and are less nuanced poetry, more on-the-nose. There are bigger ideas to address, anyway: gun violence, overly harsh sentencing, whether addicts should even be at Folsom in the first place. Los Tigres aren’t necessarily advocating for individual prisoners — they’re providing a platform for them to tell stories, good, bad and ugly, and letting the chips fall where they may. And quite often, those stories inspire empathy.

Our Call: STREAM IT. After watching Los Tigres del Norte at Folsom Prison, you’ll be less inclined to buy one of their albums — after a 50-year career, they probably don’t need it — and more likely to consider big-picture issues. It’s a thoughtful documentary with good intentions and astute execution.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba)

Stream Los Tigres del Norte at Folsom Prison on Netflix