"Piñero" tells the story of the explosive life of a Latino icon, the poet-playwright-actor Miguel Piñero, whose urban poetry is recognized as a pre-cursor to rap and hip-hop. After doing time in hard-core Sing-Sing for petty thefts and drug dealing, Piñero's prison experiences developed into the 1974 Tony-nominated play Short Eyes. The resulting notoriety and fame was too much for the Latino bad-boy genius who retreated to the darker corners of New York City.

Beyond Piñero's life, the film documents the culture that developed from the rapid decay of New York City's street's in the mid-1970s. It was from these same streets hip-hop/wrap music and graffiti came from.

Please answer the following questions in your journals;

1. How is this film different from the other films we have seen in class?



2. Do you think the film's style works to tell the story well?
   
3. Does the film exploit popular stereotypes? Does it focus too much on Piñero's drug and sex life?



4. What did you think of the film?

Internet Move Database (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0261066)

Biography of Piñero (http://www.donshewey.com/arts_articles/pinero.html)

Miguel Pinero and his play Short Eyes (http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/latinoguide/secondary/Mpinero.htm)

Piñero's television credits (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-61834)

Review of the film Piñero (http://www.tribes.org/reviews/lcpinero.html)

Nuyorican Poets Cafe Home Page (http://www.nuyorican.org/)

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