History Film / InTheHeights

* MomentOfSilence: The movie goes completely quiet to emphasize [[spoiler:Abuela Claudia's death]], up until [[TheNarrator Usnavi]] resumes speaking.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ith_poster.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"From Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo, we rep our people and the beat go --"'']]

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Nina arrives back in Washington Heights with slicked-straight hair, a hairstyle choice that signifies how defeated and alone she felt at Stanford. After a trip to Daniela's salon, her natural curls return, in keeping with her love for the community and culture present there.

* AdaptationalBadass: Benny in the musical during the blackout was drunk and didn't do much to help while spending the night with Nina. Here, despite drinking the same amount of shots, he's sober enough to realize that the dispatch needs to get people in taxis and the building likely has no power either. Benny orders Nina to stay with Usnavi and head back to Abuela's apartment, while he goes help her dad's business.  Nina protests that he doesn't have to do this, but Benny says that he can't ignore the people fighitng over taxis. Kevin is impressed when it turns out he got the same idea and walks into the powerless dispatch, seeing Benny has jerry-rigged a generator and routed incoming calls through his cellphone, getting a pregnant woman to a hospital and breaking up fights remotely. Then he joins in as well, helping Benny coordinate. Nina also silently admits she is impressed at how proactive and compassionate Benny was.

* VillainousGentrification: Downplayed. Gentrification of the Heights is ongoing: Daniela was priced out of her lease and is being forced to move her salon to the Bronx while Abuela Claudia tries to have some pieces washed at a new laundromat but can't afford the prices. While this is presented as negatively affecting the neighborhood residents, it is not the central conflict, with the focus instead being on upholding community and culture.

* AdaptationalBadass: Benny in the musical during the blackout was drunk and didn't do much to help while spending the night with Nina. Here, despite drinking the same amount of shots, he's sober enough to realize that the dispatch needs to get people in taxis and the building likely has no power either. Benny orders Nina to stay with Usnavi and head back to Abuela's apartment, while he goes help her dad's business.  Nina protests that he doesn't have to do this, but Benny says that he can't ignore the people fighitng over taxis. Kevin is impressed when it turns out he got the same idea and walks into the powerless dispatch, seeing Benny has jerry-rigged a generator and routed incoming calls through his cellphone, getting a pregnant woman to a hospital and breaking up fights remotely. Then he joins in as well, helping Benny coordinate. Nina also silently admits she is impressed at how proactive and compassionate Benny was.

** Kevin being against Nina and Benny's interracial relationship is cut. The relationship itself is much less developed in this version, establishing through a small number of lines that the two were dating before she let for college, and he still has feelings for her. "Sunrise" is cut as well.

** During 96,000, Usnavi says "I'll spend a few on you/Cause the only room with a view's a room with you in it," while drawing a finger frame around Vanessa in the background. [[spoiler: Then Sonny pops into the frame, foreshadowing how Usnavi will later spend the money on Sonny.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The [[TheIllegal DREAMers]] rally Nina and Sonny attend discusses one when it comes to undocumented immigrants and college. The rally leader notes that while it's true many college in the United States are willing to overlook a student's immigration status and allow them to enroll, most undocumented immigrants come from poor households and cannot afford the price of college tuition without federal loans or work-study permits, which do require legal status. Thus, the colleges' policies are mostly ineffective at helping the group obtain higher education.

The film is about a tight-knit Latino community on the brink of change located in Washington Heights, New York. Creator/AnthonyRamos stars as Usnavi, a good-hearted bodega owner who dreams of returning to his native Dominican Republic despite his crush on aspiring fashion designer Vanessa (Creator/MelissaBarrera). Creator/LeslieGrace plays Nina, [[TheOneWhoMadeItOut considered the pride of the barrio]] for getting into Stanford, while Creator/CoreyHawkins plays Benny, Usnavi's best friend, Nina's love interest, and an employee of her father Kevin (Creator/JimmySmits). Rounding out the cast are Creator/GergoryDiazIV as Sonny, [[Creator/DaphneRubinVega Daphne Rubin-Vega]] as Daniela, and Creator/StephanieBeatriz as Carla, with Creator/OlgaMerediz reprising her Tony-nominated role as Abuela Claudia and Miranda as Piragua Guy (named "Mr. Piraguero").

* Everyone Can See It: Everybody knows Vanessa and Usnavi are head-over-heals for each other. Except Carla, but even she admits it's pretty obvious once it's pointed out directly.

** The barrio residents prior to “Carnaval del Barrio” aren’t just in the doldrums because of the blackout-they’re also [[spoiler:mourning their surrogate Abuela’s death]].

** Usnavi's decision to remain in New York in the play was in response to Graffiti Pete's mural of Abuela Claudia. In the movie, it's a combination of Pete's mural of the Dominican beach and Vanessa's new fashion designs (inspired by Graffiti Pete's drop rags) that convinces him to stay.
** In the stage production the status of Usnavi's relationship with Vanessa is [[MaybeEverAfter left up in the air]]. The movie shows them happily together [[BabiesEverAfter with a daughter]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: Stanford does not sound as friendly as in the play.

* CelebrityParadox: ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' exists in the film's universe. Creator/LinManuelMiranda, who wrote and starred in the show, plays the Piragua Guy. Christopher Jackson, who originated the role of George Washington, has a cameo. And to make it worse, Anthony Ramos, who did double duty as John Laurens AND Philip Hamilton, is the star of the show.

* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler:Defied. Because Usnavi is apparently telling his story to a group of children on a Dominican beach, we spend the entire movie figuring that he left Washington Heights and went to the DR. It turns out the Dominican beach wasn't real, and he's actually been telling the tale from his repainted bodega.]]

* ForegoneConclusion: [[Defied. Because Usnavi is apparently telling his story to a group of children on a Dominican beach, we spend the entire movie figuring that he left Washington Heights and went to the DR. It turns out the Dominican beach wasn't real, and he's actually been telling the tale from his repainted bodega.]]

* CelebrityParadox: ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' exists in the film's universe. Creator/LinManuelMiranda, who wrote and starred in the show, plays the Piragua Guy. Christopher Jackson, who originated the role of George Washington, has a cameo.

** In the play, Usnavi was implied to be an infant when he immigrated, and named for a boat his family saw the day they came. Here, he lived in the Dominican Republic until he was 8, and named after a boat his father saw years earlier.

* ActorAllusion: The new line in "96,000", "Yo, I got more flows than Obi-Wan Kenobio". Creator/JimmySmits, who plays Kevin Rosario, also played Bail Organa (an ally of Kenobi) in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels and spinoffs.