Review of A Better Life (2011) by Paul W — 08 Feb 2012

Sad movie about an undocumented immigrant gardener trying to make a living while supporting and trying to give direction to a teenaged son whose friends and schoolmates are steadily drifting into street gang life in LA.

What was interesting to me was how much of the dialog is in Spanish -- all the scenes of the gardener at work, talking with fellow Mexican immigrants, and the discussions he has with his sister, are in Spanish with no subtitles.

This was no impediment to understanding, however -- it just adds more realism to what already seems a most realistic movie. Really good, really worth watching, but as I mentioned, really sad.