Y Tu Mama Tambien

Y Tu Mama Tambien
This was a very interesting film for me because I have a 17 year old son. I cannot even imagine him behaving in such a way or his friends for that matter; I hope I am not being naive. I guess this is where there is a big cultural difference between our culture and the Hispanic culture. I am not even talking about the raging hormones these boys displayed. I am talking about the smoking and drinking, not to mention the marijuana usage. From the film I would assume that for Hispanics drinking at this age is not against the law since they were able to go to the store and buy it themselves. They also seemed to have a steady supply of cigarettes. I know that kids in the US drink and smoke but it is against the law at age Tenoch and Julio are. Peer pressure can play a big part in any culture and if all of your friends are doing it there is a good chance you are going to do it too. One can only hope that parental influence can be as powerful as peer pressure. The problem in the film is that there was a lack of parental guidance for both boys. Julio had no male figure in his life and Tenoch’s dad was too busy for him.
Now let me briefly talk about the raging hormones. I think this is probably the same for any culture. I do think however these two guys were a little excessive in their quest for sexual satisfaction. Girls, themselves it really did not seem to matter to them. You just knew that the journey to the beach was going to lead to sex with Tenoch’s cousin’s wife. The fact that she was married to a relative did not seem to bother these two. I did find it ironic that what bothered them most was the revelation that they had slept with each other’s girlfriend.
Throughout the film we were exposed to the Hispanic culture. The wedding reception itself was nothing like I had ever been to in the United States. It did seem to me that the father was more concerned about the visiting President than his own daughter the bride. Unless it was a family member or a very close friend I do not think that we would have to worry about the President of the United States showing up at a wedding. Another aspect of the Hispanic culture and of the times were all the protests that we were exposed to. Julio had to go to a protest to find his sister to ask to borrow the car and then at different points along the journey to Heaven’s Mouth we saw other protest occurring. We also saw the military, could have been the police, stopping cars and searching them. Searches like this can happen in the US but usually it happens after being stopped for breaking the law and of giving the officer probable cause.
I would have loved to see how the film ended, instead I googled it and read how it ended. I figured Luisa had received bad news at the doctor’s office, I hope she died happy and at peace with the choices she made during her last month of life. I was sad to read that Julio and Tenoch did not remain friends after their sexual experiment. I guess it was hard to face each other and be reminded of what they had actually done.

EL Viaje de Carol

El Viaje de Carol

I am glad that we chose to watch this film without sub-titles because it made us truly watch it and go by feelings and emotions not just words.
Carol is a beautiful young girl from the United States going to visit her mother’s home in Spain. When Carol and her mom stepped off of the train I got the impression that it was the first time that she had ever met her mother’s family. She was hesitant at first but seemed to warm up quickly, especially to her grandfather. It was on the trip to her grandfather’s that we witnessed the first time that her American background influenced her actions. When the three boys shot the bird with their slingshot killing it, she threw something at them. She did not even hesitate in her actions, she just instinctively threw the object at them and after seeing the other young girls in the village where they lived none of them would have even considered such an act.
I think Carol’s appearance was another way her American background influenced her. She wore overalls most of the time and even when she was in a dress it did not seem to suit her. From the very beginning I thought she seemed like a tomboy. The other girls we met were always in dresses and probably never wore pants.
You asked the question about how she fights against conventionalisms found in this new culture. The biggest one that comes to mind is the unconventional deal that she made with the priest when studying for her first communion. I do not think Catholicism was something that she wanted to participate in but was being made to do so by her mother’s family. She made a deal to be able to wear what she wanted during the first communion. When the scene starts we see all the children at the altar waiting to be served. When they travel down the row of children we see the girls in their beautiful dresses and the boys in their white sailor like uniforms. When the scene stops at Carol, there she is dressed like one of the guys. I think the most ironic part is that when it came her turn to receive the wafer, sirens sounded and she never had to partake.
Carol was only 12 years old and in a short time she had to grow up very fast. She lost her mother and was left with family that she barely even knew. Her father that she adored was away fighting in the war. She had to pay someone just to get letters to him. When her dad finally does comes for her, he ends up having to run for his life to keep from being captured or even killed. And lastly she met and lost her first love, Tomi. He was killed trying to save her father from the Franco regime. No child should have to go through so much so fast!

Volver

Volver is a film that shows us the lives of a group of women and how their lives are intertwined. There are a few men in the film but only in small roles with the exception of two of them. Their roles are small but extremely important to the telling of the story. The first is Raimunda’s father, we never even meet him except to see his head stone at the beginning, and the other is Paco, Raimunda’s dead beat husband. It is because of these two men that the women are all drawn together in the same circle. It takes almost the entire film to truly find out about the tribulations that these women have faced and overcome.
When we meet Paco for the first time we are shown the scum that he really is. He literally looks up his daughter’s skirt, more than once, when she sits down in the chair. We do not know it at the time but we soon find out, after Paula stabs him to death because he tried to sexually molest her, that he is really not her father. Next we find out that Raimunda and Sole’s father cheated on their mother all the time. Besides cheating on his wife, we also find out that he was also a child molester. He sexually molested Raimunda and got her pregnant. Raimunda and Sole’s father met his demise at the hands of his wife, Irene. She found him in bed with Agustina’s mother and set the hut on fire, killing them both. Everyone thought it was Irene in the hut with him so instead of turning herself in she went into hiding, ending up taking care of her ailing sister. Once all of these stories come out we see how these women showed their resilience by overcoming some of life’s most hideous tribulations to become strong, beautiful, courageous women. You would have to be strong to be reminded daily that your daughter was born from being sexually molested by your own father. It also shows Raimunda’s strength to give her daughter unconditional love. She proved that love by taking care of the situation surrounding the death of Paco. The only problem I have with the film is that we applaud these women for who they are and for what they had the strength to do but in actuality they committed crimes themselves.
To me the superstitions portrayed in this film can easily be explained. The East winds were thought to make people crazy. Aunt Paula was a victim of these winds or was she? Everyone thought she was crazy because she spoke of Irene in the present when she was supposed to have been dead for the past three years. We find out that she was not crazy, Irene was alive and living with her cooking and caring for her. Agustina believed in ghost which came out when she was telling all the women how it was the ghost of Irene that let her know that Paula had died. She believed in ghost so much that she wanted Raimunda to try and contact her dead mother and ask her if she knew what happened to her mother that just up and disappeared three years prior. We know now that Irene was not a ghost and she ended up caring for Agustina who was dying from cancer. Maybe this was to be her penitence for killing Agustina’s mother along with her cheating husband.

Guantanamera

Guantanamera
The first aspect of the Cuban culture that we see in the film is the music. It is a fun song with a salsa beat, easy to dance to. The way that they use the song to tell the story throughout the film is great.
The next glimpse of the Cuban culture we experience is family. I wrote my essay about being part of a Hispanic family and this film show the family and the bonds that they have. The relationship between Gina and her aunt is more like a mother and daughter, in the Hispanic culture family is family it really does not matter whether you are an aunt, uncle, mother, or father. You are all very close and take care of each other. Even if you look at the relationship between Gina and Adolfo she takes his abuse for such a long time because the husband is considered the head of the household.
Next we experience the way the culture deals with the death of loved ones. It is not the usual custom in the United States but it seems to be the custom in Cuba that you are buried in the area from where you were born. We see how family members are treated, needing tickets to get food after a loved one dies. In the United States it is pretty normal to have a full spread of food for family and friends after the services are held. It was actually sad to see that the families were so desperate for food that they tried for several days to get food after the death of their loved one.
We also see the foods of the culture. Bananas seem to be very abundant and are used to help smuggle illegal contraband to Havana. Coffee is also very popular. In the United States it is also popular but I do not think that it is as popular as it is in Cuba. In some cafes it is the only drink served besides water.
I enjoyed this film and seeing the Cuban culture through the journey to get Yoyita, Gina’s aunt, back to Havana for a proper burial. It was also great to see Gina come out of her shell and become a strong women and finally find true love. I am a sucker for happy endings!

Guantanamera

Guantanamera
The first aspect of the Cuban culture that we see in the film is the music. It is a fun song with a salsa beat, easy to dance to. The way that they use the song to tell the story throughout the film is great.
The next glimpse of the Cuban culture we experience is family. I wrote my essay about being part of a Hispanic family and this film show the family and the bonds that they have. The relationship between Gina and her aunt is more like a mother and daughter, in the Hispanic culture family is family it really does not matter whether you are an aunt, uncle, mother, or father. You are all very close and take care of each other. Even if you look at the relationship between Gina and Adolfo she takes his abuse for such a long time because the husband is considered the head of the household.
Next we experience the way the culture deals with the death of loved ones. It is not the usual custom in the United States but it seems to be the custom in Cuba that you are buried in the area from where you were born. We see how family members are treated, needing tickets to get food after a loved one dies. In the United States it is pretty normal to have a full spread of food for family and friends after the services are held. It was actually sad to see that the families were so desperate for food that they tried for several days to get food after the death of their loved one.
We also see the foods of the culture. Bananas seem to be very abundant and are used to help smuggle illegal contraband to Havana. Coffee is also very popular. In the United States it is also popular but I do not think that it is as popular as it is in Cuba. In some cafes it is the only drink served besides water.
I enjoyed this film and seeing the Cuban culture through the journey to get Yoyita, Gina’s aunt, back to Havana for a proper burial. It was also great to see Gina come out of her shell and become a strong women and finally find true love. I am a sucker for happy endings!

The Official Story

I had mixed emotions after viewing this film. Yes it was very good film but I was torn between Alicia finding out the truth behind Gaby’s adoption and thinking that she should have left well enough alone. I know the actual story is fictional but in reality it was telling the story of hundreds maybe even thousands. There are a lot of Alicia’s out there that adopted the children taken illegally and a lot of Gaby’s that will never know their real parents due to the military takeover in Argentina.
The film is about a women’s journey in searching for the truth behind the adoption of her beautiful daughter. Alicia is married to Roberto and after trying to have a child for years they end up adopting Gaby. The one condition of the adoption is that Alicia can never ask about it. Roberto on the other hand knows all the details. They are an affluent couple and have provided Gaby with a loving home. Things change for this family in a short amount of time.
Alicia teaches history and from the start she lets the students know that she teaches straight from the book and does not put up with any nonsense. The students on the other hand think the book was written by murderers and let her know it. One day she comes in and finds pictures all over the board depicting missing and or murdered women and children. She has one of the students remove the pictures but instead of throwing them away she keeps them.
We also meet Alicia’s childhood friend Ana that had been away for quite a while. When we first meet Ana there is a group of old friends having dinner and afterwards Ana ends up back at Alicia’s. The two are drinking, laughing and having a good time when Alicia asks Ana why she just disappeared. I do not think Alicia was prepared for the answer that she got. Ana told her about being held captive and tortured by the military. She described what she in detail she had endured and also what she saw. She told Alicia about seeing pregnant women and then later seeing them without their babies, sometimes she never saw them again. I think it was at this point that Alicia really started to question the details of Gaby’s adoption.
During the quest for answers Alicia finds out details about Roberto that she never knew. He was part of the military junta. This comes out when she will not stop asking questions and the adoption. After Alicia brings a women to their home that could possibly be Gaby’s biological grandmother, he goes ballistic and after throwing the women out he physically assaults Alicia by ramming her head in the wall and slamming her hand several times in the door. Alicia is begging him to stop and when he does the phone rings and it is Gaby wanting to say goodnight and sing them the song that she has learned. Roberto talks to Gaby and listens to her song but Alicia is upset and can’t talk to her daughter, maybe she is upset about what just happened or maybe she is upset about finally learning the truth about the adoption. Whatever the reason Alicia hugs Roberto then leaves.
This film is full of hope and hopelessness. You feel the hopelessness when watching the demonstrators looking for their missing loved one. Theirs is of hope, the hope of finding them alive and well. The hopelessness is in knowing that they will never be found because they have been murdered. The hope that comes out of all of this is Gaby. She represents hope for all the families of those that have missing loved ones. I think that Alicia and Roberto love Gaby with all their hearts but with the way Alicia left I feel like the chance of their marriage staying together is hopeless.
I mentioned earlier in my blog that maybe Alicia should leave well enough alone. I have to think that if I adopted I would want to know everything that I could about birth parents so that I could share this with my child later on. I am reminded of the old saying that “the truth shall set you free”. I hope Alicia felt this way after her quest for the truth was over.

Like Water for Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate

Let me start by saying that I truly enjoyed this film. It had a little bit of a Cinderella story line and also that of Lady Godiva. I only wish that Tita and Pedro could have had a longer life together. Now having said that, what a way to go! To have that much love and passion inside that it engulfed them both in flames. Their love was powerful, passionate and truly lasted a lifetime.
Magic realism is intertwined throughout this film. We see it from start to finish. It is so well done that we know what is occurring is fantasy but with the way it is presented it seems real. The way the rose sauce affects everyone, especially Gertrudis, can’t happen in reality but when it occurs in the film it seems real to us. Another example of magic realism is when we see the ghost of Nacha and Elena talking to Tita. Nacha’s ghost represented love giving Tita advice on everything from cooking to healing Pedro’s burns. Elena’s ghost represented evil. Even being dead didn’t stop her from trying to make Tita’s life miserable and after Tita stood up to her she turned her anger onto Pedro and caused him to be severely burned. But the most powerful example came at the end when Tita started eating the matches which ignited the passion from inside engulfing the two lovers in flames. The movie would definitely not have been as enjoyable without the use of magic realism.
One topic that is discussed throughout the film is that of tradition. I know in my family we have several traditions but none which dictates that as the youngest I would have to take care of my mother until she dies and never be able to marry because of it. I would take care of my mother out of love and respect not because I was ordered to do so. This tradition sentenced Tita to a life of servitude. This is also how this movie reminds me of Cinderella except what makes this film worse is that in Cinderella she was treated badly by her stepmom, Tita was treated like a slave by her own mother. After Elena died, Rosaura threatened to carry on the tradition with her own daughter Esperanza. Tita told Rosaura that she would never allow that to happen and she didn’t. Esperanza was allowed to marry and when she had her own daughter she honored her aunt by naming her own daughter Tita.





This should come as no shock but the common message throughout the film is that of love. It is a message of lost love, denied love, and undying love. The common thread in all of these is Tita. She lost her father shortly after her birth, because she was the youngest she was unable to marry the man that she loved, and from the first moment their eyes met Tita only loved Pedro and they took that love with them to the grave. Love is powerful but as seen in Like Water for Chocolate it is also magical.

Diarios de Motocicleta

What a great film! I could not wait to see where their journey was going to take them. I guess I must live a very sheltered life because I had never heard of Ernesto Guevara until preparing for this class. I am glad that I had not though because I might have been watching with preconceived ideas about who he was instead of how he became that man.
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. Ernesto was one semester away from becoming a doctor before he and Alberto set out on their 8,000 kilometer road trip across the South American continent. Who in their right mind does such a thing? It is because of this trip though that his life changes in a way that he can't even begin imagine. I even think it is ironic that they call their motorcycle "The Mighty One".
The first stop on the trip is the home of Fuser's girlfriend, Chichina. She lets him know that she will not wait forever for him. We later find out that she gave him $15 American dollars to buy her some fancy underwear, this money helps form him as a leader as we see later on.
During the trip we see that the two friends have very different personalities. Mial is willing to lie to get what he wants and Fuser is caring and honest. We see this when they come upon a house telling the owner that they are doctors on a trip and could use a place to sleep and some food. The owner asks them to look at a lump on his neck and Fuser tells him it is a tumor and needs to be checked. Mial on the other hand tells him that it only looks like a sebaceous cyst and will be just fine. Fuser is not willing to lie at the risk of someone else's life. I think that most leaders start out to be honest and caring.
Next we see how much he enjoys talking to people. This is demonstrated in the scene where the two are pushing "The Mighty One" into the market area of Chile. What political leader doesn't like to talk and meet with people. This is also the first time Mial tries to get Fuser to use Chichina's money to help them. They need money to get the bike fixed, for food, and a place to sleep. Fuser refuses. Fuser ends up having an article printed about them in the local paper which makes them celebrities and this gets them the help that they need. Most leaders are a in their own way a celebrity. We see his caring side when he goes and sees the sick women and tries to make her as comfortable as possible, he does not tell her that she is dying and that there nothing he can do for her.
By now "The Mighty One" has died and they are now walking and hitch hiking to travel. It is during a ride that they meet a couple going to the mines looking for work. They hear the story of how a big landowner took their land from them and how the police wanted to arrest them for being communist. Once at the mine, the husband was picked for work. Fuser yells to the foreman "can't you see that they are thirsty and need water". He is then threatened with being arrested for being on private property. We see how he is starting to care for the poor and less fortunate. All along their travel to Peru we see the poor and homeless and hear more stories on how others have had their land taken from them.
While they are traveling we are read the letters that Fuser has written to his mother. While the letters are being read to us we see the faces of the people they have met along the way and how they are forever etched in his mind.
The next leg of their journey has them on a five day boat trip where Fuser almost dies from an asthma attack and Mial begs him for the $15 so that he can spend the night with a lady of the night. He tries to get the money by reminding him of everything that they had go through together, crashes, the desert, and starvation. Fuser informs him that he no longer has the money, he gave it to the couple back at the mines. This show a selfless act putting others before himself. Another sign of the beginnings of a true leader.
The final leg of their journey has them ending up at a leper's colony. It is here that biggest transformation of his life occurs. His first act of defiance is seen, he refuses to wear gloves when coming in contact with the lepers. He also is able to convince a young women that even though she has leprosy life is still worth living. He also realizes the injustice of the lepers being isolated from the rest of the world. While they are at the colony, Fuser celebrates his 24th birthday. The doctors and staff throw him a birthday party combination going away party, he and Mial were leaving the next day. Fuser gave a toast at the party which can now be looked on as his first political speech. After he finished, giving no regard for his own life, he swam acrossed the river to spend the rest of his birthday and last night with the people he really cared about.
At the end of the journey and before the two friends go their separate ways, Ernesto tells Alberto that something in him has changed and that he no longer sees things in the sam way. The final scenes tell us that he did actually become a doctor and that he went on to join Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution. I guess you could truly call this the trip of a lifetime!

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

How are Spanish speaking women interactions with men within the same culture? Are the feelings over reacted in the film?

I see the women in this film interacting with men very similar to the way women in the United States do. I am sure there are many of my classmates that will disagree with me but here is why I think this. Pepa was in a relationship that was one sided, and also found out some disturbing news which we found out later was the news that she was pregnant. The combination of the two circumstances made her lose control and react in the manner in which she did. She loved Ivan and needed desperately to talk with him and let him know what she had found out at the doctors office. Women in the United States also end up in relationships with men that are unavailable to them completely, I do not understand this concept of wanting a married man but it happens around us all the time. John Kerry, Tiger Woods, Jesse James, I could go on and on but I think you get the idea. Pepa's friend Candela was attracted to the bad boy and has the personality where she falls in love with whomever she is with. She of course falls in love with the worst of the worst and gets herself into trouble. Again we see this type of behavior in women in the United States, they think they are in love and end up doing things that they know is wrong, just look at the women who followed Charles Manson. Next we have the strong dominating personality of Marisa, Carlos' fiancee. He is what I would call a "whipped puppy", she definitely wears the pants in that relationship. This is also a trait that we see in some women in the United States, it may be my perception but I see this trait in Hillary Clinton and her relationship with past President Bill Clinton. Finally we see Lucia and how the lost love of her life drove her insane, all she wanted to do was be loved. I do think that for the films purpose the feelings of these women were over reacted but not unrealistic. Women have tried and succeeded in committing suicide over a man, women have also done some pretty crazing things in the name of love.

Do you find differences between women in the film and today's American women? What could have been different in the film if the context was the United States.

I have already discussed some of this in my answer above. I think that we can see women in the United States reacting in the same manner as these women. Women fall in love to me easier than men (remember this is my opinion). Men can have a relationship with a women for simple pleasure but I think that women attach emotions to it. That is why we see women react in the same manner as Pepa. Once she found out that Ivan did not really love her she was devastated and her first reaction was to kill herself, then she decided that if she could just talk to him and see him that she could make him stay and love her. It took 48 hours and a reality check for her to realize that he was not worth it. When I was going through nursing school and doing my psych. rotation I had a couple of young girls that were in the hospital because they had tried to kill themselves over men. What I wanted to tell them was to snap out of it, no man is worth taking your own life, of course I couldn't but I wanted too! I also have to admit that I have done some stupid things in the name of love.

My own impression about the film's plot.

I thought the film was OK, I did not think that it was necessarily a comedy though until the final scenes. I thought it was based on a series on coincidences that drove these characters together. At the center of these coincidences was love or should I say the lack of love. The final scene where Ivan's wife tried to kill him showed me a character that will never know true love. He was going away with one women and in a flash he was ready to leave her and go back to Pepa. What a loser!

Do you think there is a difference among women from Spanish America and women from Spanish Europe?

I think there is a difference because I think that there differences in any culture. These differences come in many ways from social status, how women talk to each other, how they interact with men, and what they value in life. In some circumstances women value their status in life over anything else but in other cultures family and friends are most important.

My thoughts on the two boys is that they could be two boys here in the United States. I know in our schools today and even way back when I was in school we had divisions. In my time there were the popular kids (jocks and cheerleaders), geeks (smart kids), hoods (smokers and trouble makers) and nerds (quiet and non popular). Today when I visit my son's schools I see a lot of the same things, popular kids, computer nerds, quiet kids, trouble makers and a new group, Hispanic kids. I can easily see why Gonzalo and Pedro connected. They were both outcasts, Pedro because he was poor and Gonzalo because he was not popular. That made them easy targets for the bullies in the class. Pedro gave Gonzalo the courage to stand up to the bullies for the first time in his life and in doing so gave him the ability to see Pedro as a person and not a class of people. The rest of the students seen Pedro and the other new students as second class citizens, lowest of life that did not belong at their school. It was not until the end of the movie that we were able to see that social class truly made a difference in their friendship, no matter what Gonzalo came from money and Pedro was poor.

There was a huge difference in the rich and the poor in Chile during the time of this movie. I did not even see signs that there was possibly a middle class. You were either rich and had a air that you were better than everyone else or poor and lived in the shanty town and had nothing. I mean the poor even had to share a disgusting outhouse just to go to the bathroom. Times were hard in Chile during this time , even the rich had trouble getting everyday necessities like milk and bread. The difference was that the rich had the money and means to get what they needed even if it was from the black market. The poor like Pedro's family had to work hard and sell whatever they could (flags and cigarettes) to make money. The biggest difference was seen at the end when the military was at the shanty town taking people into custody and destroying their belongings. Gonzalo went to check on his friend and when he was about to be taken into custody all it took was for him to tell the soldier to look at his clothes and he was instructed to get out. That is sad that we can be judged by the clothes on our back.

The biggest message for me is that we should treat each other as human beings and like we would want to be treated. Even in our own country we put to much emphasis on money and material possessions.

I personally was wondering why this movie was called Machuca, I felt like Gonzalo was more the center of the story. We met him first and seen more of his life and his families life and how screwed up they all were. It was like a soap opera, we had the slutty older sister and her over bearing boy friend that constantly picked on him. We also met his father, always gone on business and his mother who was having an affair with an older married man. The only constant person in his life that cared about him was his live-in housekeeper. I mentioned earlier that as far as the social issues we see the same thing here. We are definitely divided by classes, we even joke that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I think the biggest difference is that here in the United States we have agencies in place to assist the poor and or down and out. We have food banks, homeless shelters, churches, welfare, unemployment and others. It is not a perfect system but at least it is there to help. I was disturbed to see the finale scene where the military came in and took the families into custody that lived in the shanty town, killed the young cousin of Pedro for trying to protect her father and then demolishing the shanty town so that it never existed. It is a scary thought to think that one day our government could come into our towns and do that to us just because we did not have money. It is even scarier to think that things like this still occur all over the world today.

This was a good thought provoking movie, still relevant today.

Machuca

Under the Same Moon Questions/Answers

Rosario left Carlito home in Mexico with his granny so that she could go to the United States to try and make a better life for herself and for him. She was a single mother and there was nothing in Mexico for her. She loved Carlito so much that she was willing to risk her life crossing the border illegally, but she loved him to much to risk his.

I think that Rosario made this decision with a very heavy heart. She had nothing to give Carlito and felt like this was the only way that she could provide him with the life that she felt like he deserved. He was her whole life and she wanted him to have everything and she knew that staying in Mexico this would not be possible. I know, being a mother myself, that this was probably the hardest thing that she had ever done, but I also know that I would do anything in my power to give my boys the best life possible.

Carlito faced several problems while his mother was gone with the biggest being the failing health of his granny. He had to grow up very fast. He held a job, went to school, and helped take care of his sick granny. He missed Rosario so much and the only thing that made it tolerable was the weekly phone calls he received from her. Rosario had problems as well. She not only missed Carlito, she was in the United States illegally. She had to work several jobs as a cleaning women to make money and because she was here illegally she was taken advantage of with no recourse. She was even considering marrying a man that she did not love so that she could stay in the United States and finally send for Carlito.

You ask if a mother in the United States would make the same choice and I would have to say no. I really do not think so. We are so fortunate in this country to have many options available to us. First of all there are usually family members ready willing and able to step up and help. There are also many government programs available to aide those who are willing to help themselves. We have educational assistance, housing assistance, food stamps and other programs available. I know that Rosario had a difficult decision and it makes me realize how lucky I am to be an American and live in a country where others would risk their life to live here.

I enjoyed this movie and found it easy to watch even being in Spanish with English subtitles.