Six non-Latino Academy Award nominees (and three winners) — only one native Spanish speaker among them — are cast as Chileans in the film adaptation of Isabel Allende’s novel “The House of Spirits”: Meryl Streep as Clara del Valle Trueba, Glenn Close as Ferula Trueba, Jeremy Irons as Esteban Trueba, Winona Ryder as Blanca Trueba, Spain’s Antonio Banderas as Pedro Tercero Garcia and Vanessa Redgrave as Nivea del Valle. Despite its star power, the film earns mostly negative reviews.
Other notable films with Latino characters “whitewashed” by Hollywood: “Juarez” (1939, with Paul Muni as Benito Juarez and Bette Davis as Carlota), “Viva Zapata!” (1952, with Marlon Brando as Zapata), “Touch of Evil” (1958, with Charlton Heston as Ramon Vargas), “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (1966, with Eli Wallach as Tuco Ramirez), “Che!” (1969, with Omar Sharif as Che and Jack Palance as Fidel Castro), “Evita” (1996, with Madonna as Evita Peron), “A Beautiful Mind” (2001, with Jennifer Connelly as John Nash’s Salvadoran wife, Alicia Nash) and “Argo” (2012, with Ben Affleck as CIA officer Tony Mendez).
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“Evita” star Madonna poses for dozens of photographers as she arrives at the film’s premiere on Saturday, Dec. 14, 1996 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
