Review of Under the Same Moon (2007) by Kathleen P — 02 Dec 2008

La Misma Luna is a story of a boy who lives in Mexico and who gets a lot of nice things from his mom that lives in the U.S. and sends him stuff. It is the story of a mother who labors hard in the U.S. for the sake of her son.

The problem is that while material things are nice and good, a boy needs his mom and a mom needs to be there for her son. We get into issues of family ties and how much you need your family in order to be whole.

But it is also about the difficulties of illegal immigration; it reminded me a bit of Steinbeck and how the U.S. and the west in general is supposed to be this land of dreams and limitless opportunities, but after so much toil and sacrifice -- you actually get there and try, the American dream isn't real; it doesn't exist, it is just this sad facade for the harsh reality of work and always watching your back and being looked down upon and alone.

My favorite character is the anti-hero comic relief who is a very reluctant hero and more of a rogue character who doesn't really like to help people and wants to be alone, but is a good guy at heart (though he'd never admit it).

All in all, I really liked the film; it was a bit formulaic at times, the Mexicans all looked a little too light-skinned to me, and some of the things that happened were kind of ridiculous -- but past that and past it being just a movie, it was a very nice film and definitely enjoyable; I cried from the beginning.