There are plenty of superheroes being featured in top-grossing films these days, but none of them are like political activist Dolores Huerta, whom many consider a real life superhero.
Carlos Santana knew it was time that the world learn more about Huerta, the labor leader who co-founded the National Farmworkers Association (now known as the United Farm Workers) in the 1960s alongside Cesar Chavez.
So the rocker reached out to director Peter Bratt and his production partner and brother Benjamin Bratt with the idea to make a documentary about Huerta.
Little did they know that five years later, with "Dolores" opening at the IFC Theater Center in New York on Friday, Sept. 1, the nation would be needing inspiration from Huerta more than ever.
"When Carlos Santana called and said, 'Let's make a movie about Dolores,' I seized the opportunity," Peter Bratt tells Viva.
"Carlos has known Dolores for a long time and he put a stake in the ground and said, 'We have to make this movie now.' That launched the ship. What we didn't know five years ago when this conversation took place was where we would be politically.
"Anytime would be a great time for us to tell her story," Bratt adds. "But I think right now in particular, we need this story as a country."
The New Mexico-born Huerta, 87, hopes the film will encourage people of color of all ages to stand up for their rights.
"Bringing your children and your nieces and nephews to demonstrations really creates strong, emotional fortitude for the children," says Huerta. "Then they don't have to read about the movement, they can participate and it'll be in their DNA.
Not surprisingly — and given the current political climate in the Age of Trump — Huerta is a strong advocate for using the right to vote to enact change.
"We really need our people to vote," she says. "We have 40% of our people that are not voting, even when they are registered. We have another few million that could register to vote but they don't. We have a few more million that could become citizens that haven't done so yet even though they can have dual citizenship.
"We have power that is being wasted because we are not being involved," she adds. "Nothing is going to change unless we get involved and we change it."
Benjamin Bratt agrees that it's the perfect time for others to be inspired by Huerta and he hopes that by watching this film, it may light a spark in people who may not know just how powerful their voice really is.
He equates Huerta with some of the biggest civil rights leaders in history, yet he feels she hasn't gotten the credit she deserves for her life-long battles for justice on behalf of workers and immigrants.
"Dolores and her story is, if nothing else, inspirational," Bratt says. "She's a true American hero and an icon who is the last of her generation. You can put her up right there with Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy and even Gandhi.
"She's not the type of person who stops and waits for praise. She's not in it for praise. She's in it for the compassion and the humanity; that's what drives her. She's in it for the fight for justice for those that don't have it. That's the kind of selflessness that has driven her throughout her entire life."