FLIGHTS OF FANCY (El Lujo de Soñar)

Back in March of 2006, I met with Ricardo E. (“Lalo”) Saca and his wife, Nidia Saca, to discuss the possibility of producing a feature film based on his life story. Lalo has the most remarkable rags-to-riches. American Dream life story. 

Born and raised in Usulután, El Salvador, Lalo dreamt of becoming a doctor ever since he was a young boy. And his parents, who were not highly educated themselves, eventually embraced this ambition nonetheless. Tragically, when the family was wiped out financially, Lalo’s hopes of achieving his dreams were dashed in the process.

By the time he was 19, Lalo set off to create his own destiny, sneaking across the U.S./Mexico border illegally and unable to speak a word of English. For the next 11 years, Lalo toiled at various jobs, many of which he held down simultaneously. He sent “remesas” home every month (about $200), to help keep his family solvent and his younger brother, Tony, in school. While he worked, he also studied feverishly, first learning ESL (English as a Second Language), then attending community college, transferring to a 4-year university, and then medical school.

It’s particularly inspiring that he achieved this kind of academic success in such a brief period of time because in the U.S., in order to attend medical school, one must first earn a college degree in a related field (and that entails 4 years of study). Then come another 4 years of medical school. That’s 8 years of study, not including additional specialization and training. Thus, the fact that Lalo was able to graduate from medical school only 11 years after arriving in the U.S., means that he was just 3 years behind those who were born and raised in the U.S.

All those years of working several jobs at time also paid off for his brother, Tony, who went onto have a stellar career in sports broadcasting, eventually launching a successful media company that started with the purchase of one small radio station. Today, that brother is President Tony Saca, the head of state of his beloved El Salvador.

When President Tony was running for office, he spoke often about his debt of gratitude toward his older brother, Lalo, for having sacrificed himself so much to help support the family. The press both in El Salvador and in the U.S. picked up the lead on this human-interest story and the rest is history….

Next up, how the first meeting went and how the actual film project was born….