Going Varsity in Mariachi (2023) is a documentary that closely tracks a mariachi band, Mariachi Oro, from Edinburg North High School, Texas. The movie depicts the events that lead the protagonists – strongly supported by their trainer, Abel Acuña, – to intense training for state and national mariachi tournaments. It is a touching tale of hope, dreams, music and culture, where students face personal and academic hurdles even as they try to excel in mariachi.
An important voice in the documentary is actually from Sam Osborn since the other co-director is him. Although only the last few minutes of the documentary are exclusively devoted to mariachi, it is more more a walking advertisement for the music – Mexican heritage, for a dream, for education, for many harpooned students alive from Mexican American society. The film puts particular attention on the lives of the students, some of whom have no musical background, including but not limited to poverty, inscription issues and etc. Although many will see the story of the band and how they moved up the ranks through competitions as a character arc largely seen in sports documentaries, this is in fact not a mere story of a team, their passion, and a single direction of fighting back.
The film got its premiere at the registration of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and has since gained acclaim for the use of all the modes of delivery, such as, visual, as well as, oral narration, and representing how these students use mariachi as part of the culture. The movie is available right now on Netflix.
