Forsaking All Others

2014· Crime, Drama, Romance

This unholy trinity, brings adventure, excitement and a commuter version of West Side Story. The three principal characters are Teenager, a Latin drug dealer; Maximo, a young Puerto Rican Harvard-educated lawyer with a desire to serve his South Bronx community; and Nicki, daughter of a gang boss, who lives in New Jersey with her parents while her husband serves time in prison. Teenager is a monster of social determinism: "Rising out of a blank life, he found his identity depended upon his level of violence . His search is for domination, his basic urge is to destroy; sexual conquest for the sake of humiliating a woman was the first duty of a man to himself." Stretched between a Puerto Rican past and American future, Maximo has the makings of a tragic figure, "his feet slipping each time he tried to turn about." Nicki, foulmouthed, man hungry and bound by family code and prejudice, is almost endearing as she figuratively holds her nose to conduct a secret affair with Maximo. Forsaking All Others show Latinos living in blighted hope and fierce ambition, slamming again and again into an unyielding wall of Anglo-run courts, business, government and crime. Through the characters of "Teenager" and his childhood friend, Maximo, Forsaking All Others examines two of the roads open to Puerto Ricans and Latinos in New York-and the dirty dead end of each. Teenager is a tough, totally ruthless dope dealer whose ambition puts him up against both the police and the Mafia. Maximo, beneficiary of affirmative action to the extent of a Harvard Law School degree, quickly learns the cynicism that is rife in the world of urban "liberal" do-good-ism. Maximo against Teenager's advice fall in love with Nikki. This is a forbidden love affair. it is an affair that almost get them both killed. Their love is so deep they will not let race, religion or backgrounds get in the way of love. This is a story that has violence and passion tightly woven.

Cast: William Baldwin, Paul Ben-Victor, Armand Assante, Kathy Najimy

Director: Kevin Breslin