Sunday, December 07, 2008

Another good movie

We watched Under the Same Moon last night and loved it. It is in Spanish, so you must deal with subtitles (unless you understand Spanish!), but it is so worth it. The little boy, Carlitos, above, lives in Mexico with his grandmother. His mother, an illegal, lives and struggles in L.A. She has called him every Sunday morning, for four years, from the same phone booth. When his grandmother dies suddenly Carlitos sets out to get to L.A. and find his mother before the Sunday call, so she won't worry when he doesn't answer. His journey is the story. This little actor, Adrian Alonso, is incredible and while the story has a few flaws and tugs, occasionally rather shamelessly, on your heartstrings, it is moving nonetheless.

Your reaction may be affected by whatever your personal feelings are about immigration and especially illegal immigration, but, for me, it is an important reminder that behind the politics and rhetoric the issue is really still just about a fellow human being striving to improve her life and the life of her child.

3 comments:

  1. We watched this last month. Another "Gerrie pick" that Mr C had doubts about. Ha!! He loved it, too.

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  2. O Terry, I must get this one.
    Perfect for my family.
    My grandmother was a Mexican immigrant and her husband, my
    German grandfather landed in Mexico after WWI and met and married her. She was pregnant when they crossed the US border and came to Chicago, where she raised four strapping boys into manhood. My dad was one of them.
    Grandad started a company that survives to this day.
    I have no idea if they had papers when they made their northern trek, but many US citizens benefitted from their presence here.
    Oops, this is looking like a blog entry for me...

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  3. I think this is the same young actor that was in the Zorro movie with Antonio Banderas. This sounds like an excellent movie to watch

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