2022 Sizzle
El Forajido - The Cautionary Tale of Toño Bicicleta is a true-crime documentary about an infamous Puerto Rican outlaw who evaded the authorities off and on throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Despite having committed atrocious murders and raping dozens of women, Toño Bicicleta captured the hearts and minds of the Puerto Rican people becoming the most infamous folk hero in the country’s history. This film examines how colonial oppression, media sensationalism, and police corruption made it all possible.
“If Toño gave a thought about the island’s political status or worried about the standard of living, we’ll probably never know. Not that his views on these things mattered a great deal, but he cut an intriguing figure. Thousands went to Lares to behold the coffee picker/fugitive in his casket. In an island where prisons and closed communities are based in identical principles for opposite reasons, maybe what they saw was not a killer, but a free man.” - Natalia Muñoz
“Toño Bicicleta: Everything Started With An Escape…” 1974
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