Decades later, ‘El Norte’ returns to its Sundance roots

Forty years later, Gregory Nava and co-writer Anna Thomas’s film “El Norte,” which was originally nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay, continues to be considered a fresh American classic. This powerful epic portrays the perilous voyage that some migrants from Central America undertake in pursuit of a better life in the United States, and it still resonates deeply in 2025, just as it did when it was first released.