The tragic circumstances surrounding Selena Quintanilla’s death are well documented. In 1995, while on the verge of US pop crossover success, the 23-year-old Queen of Tejano Music was murdered by one of her employees, Yolanda Saldívar.
Selena’s life story has already been told in multiple ways, including through a movie, a musical and a podcast series. However, the touching Netflix documentary Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy is the most empathetic and personal look at her life and career to date. Working alongside Selena’s family, who generously opened their archive of rare photos and home videos and sat for extensive interviews, director Isabel Castro uses intimate recollections and vivid primary sources to trace the artist’s ascent.
A natural vocal talent, Selena grew up fronting a family band put together by her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr, himself a former touring Tejano musician; in the documentary, we see Selena as a precocious young child, belting out ballads and upbeat covers onstage with her bassist brother AB and drummer sister Suzette.
Selena y Los Dinos, as they were called, quickly became a professional musical endeavor. In a clip from the mid-1980s, Selena – now a young teenager with a trendy new wave haircut – tries to put on a brave face when talking about the sacrifices she’s made for the band. “I have a lot of friends, but since I don’t go to school, I never get to see them,” she told a journalist, as her cheerful facade wobbles. “I’ve kind of lost contact with them.”
The documentary also touches on other challenges the group faced, such as the Tejano legend Luis Silva declining to give the band songs to record or Selena working to become fluent in Spanish to expand their musical audience. (Footage from an ill-fated mid-1980s concert in Mexico, where the group received a lukewarm-to-chilly reception, was particularly heartbreaking.) In other unguarded moments, where Selena looks tired or pensive during rehearsal, we see the toll of this hard work.
But through rare videos, Castro also illuminates the joys of Selena’s life: how she became a magnetic live presence and burgeoning pop star (a buoyant performance of Debbie Gibson’s hit Only in My Dreams is effervescent), signed a major record deal and eventually won a Grammy award. We catch glimpses of Selena laughing and goofing around with her band and family while on tour, as relatable as any normal teenager. And, most poignantly, we see her flourish offstage and come into her own as a young adult – namely by fulfilling her dreams of becoming a fashion designer and eloping with her bandmate Chris Pérez.
At the time, this romance initially caused personal and professional tension because her dad didn’t approve of the relationship. The documentary acknowledges the turmoil, but time and hindsight have softened the memory of these disagreements. During his interviews, Pérez is a particularly serene presence who speaks tenderly about Selena and their marriage, even reading a yearning love letter from her.
Castro also handles the discussion of Selena’s death in a deft and sensitive way. Her killer is mentioned only briefly; instead, the film combines vintage news footage with contemporary family recollections. The former illustrates the magnitude of Selena’s stardom and the impact she had on fans, and the latter interviews are wrenching, as it’s clear family members’ grief remains raw, and the pain of losing a child (and sibling) so violently still endures.
Photograph: AP
Near the end of the movie, the narrative flips to the present day. Castro films Selena’s dad at the front desk of Selena’s museum in Corpus Christi, Texas. He looks stoic, if a bit sad, watching reverent fans stream into the artifact-packed space to marvel at her outfits and awards. “It makes me feel better to see how many people love her, to this day,” he’s quoted as saying, as her mom Marcella Quintanilla adds in voiceover: “They took her life, but we’re going to keep her alive through her music.”
Selena did achieve her US mainstream pop crossover success, albeit posthumously: Her debut English language album, 1995’s Dreaming of You, reached No 1 on the Billboard 200 and the title track became a top 40 single. In the decades since, Dreaming of You has become her signature song, a beloved, timeless pop standard that’s kept her legacy secure.
Many documentaries about deceased musicians err on the side of lionizing their subject or leaning into treacly, heart-tugging moments. But Selena y Los Dinos is a sterling example of how to tease out the complexities of an impossibly sad story and get beyond sensationalized tabloid headlines. By focusing on Selena’s vibrant life and career, we have a deeper understanding of what the world lost with her death – but also who she was when she was alive: a radiant presence with limitless potential.
