Just in time to offer some levity as the issue it explores becomes more serious than ever, Sergio Arau’s controversial and hilarious hit film is finally available online!  Remastered from original 35mm elements, the film delighted both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences upon its initial release, but the issues it humorously addresses have only gained greater significance over the past two decades.

Now is the perfect time to experience A Day Without a Mexican—whether you’re watching it for the first time, or enjoying it again. Share it with friends, family, and anyone who could use some lighthearted insight in this perpetually important conversation.

The days drag on as the citizens of the 5th largest economy in the world watch its infrastructure crumble. For most, “the disappearance” forces the cracks in their private lives wide open. In the ensuing panic, dubious experts pose some colorful theories: It’s an alien abduction; an act of bio-terrorism; “The Rapture” has begun and Latinos are God’s chosen.

California’s only hope may be hidden in the DNA of TV news reporter Lila Rodriguez (Yareli Arizmendi—Like Water for Chocolate), the state’s last remaining Hispanic, confined to a hospital by a crazed military geneticist.