By “Under the Same Moon.” What a suggestive title – like we’re all under the same umbrella, we’re not as different or compartmentalized as we go on seeing the world and living it.
It even has an existentialist sound – again, a reminder, that we’re small, tiny, compared to the vast weight of this world in its even greater, colossal universe.
Still, in a modern-day scientific manner, poets and scientists alike, argue that our neighbor, the moon, is being transformed into earth’s enemy, not its friend. Conclusions to studying this lunar phenomenon in recent decades mean only one thing: Earth’s moon is backing away from us an inch and hald each year and without its balancing magic, the earth will spin itself into chaos.
In the same way, with all the friction and friendship that goes on between two nations, the U.S. and Mexico are put into the forefront of Patricia Riggen’s new film, “Under the Same Moon.”
This movie brings to light a major trend in migration from our Mexican neighbors without delving into the painfully political babble. Instead, it’s incredibly humanitarian, charming, uplifting, and captures Los Angeles (and other parts of our nation) in a way many films don’t.
The story is centered on Rosario’s new life-she is one of the statistical four million Latino women who have left at least one child behind as they work in the U.S. in order to enhance living at home. In Rosario’s case, she leaves her 9-year-old son, Carlos, or “Carlitos,” to become a housekeeper to the upper echelon families of L.A.
Carlitos, experiencing his own catastrophes at home, successfully escapes, determined to follow his mom into the “New World” when his grandmother unexpectedly dies.
The process then becomes sweaty and brutal as Carlitos makes his way over. The act of smuggling him through a Texas border, then the act of his hiding away from the ever-present Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.), to witnessing the severe treatment by these officials against his older comrades… Carlitos holds his main objective in place: He is going to find his mom in L.A.
This unwavering focus by the very tenderhearted, soft-spoken Carlitos is what’s more amazing and something that transcends throughout the entire film. It’s something I admired and found myself taking notes on.
But eventually we find him in the company of greasy, tubby, short and dark workers he meets in Texas and it becomes a time in the movie where not only is it hard to look at these people, but it’s also a point where we realize how segregated and foreign these Mexicans truly are, regardless of their back-breaking work and contribution to the economy, as the movie rightfully depicts.
This is an example of how Riggen remains honest and realistic and, in turn, seamlessly weaves through a compelling, heartfelt story of not only a young boy who cuts through all the conventional rules of a country so set against Mexican migration, but shows us a story of how strong a heart’s will can take a person.
Additionally, Riggen wisely employs some of Mexico’s biggest actors to fulfill the cast of “Under the Same Moon”: the country’s leading drama queen from prime-time novellas, Kate del Castillo, as Rosario; Mexico’s Jim Carey, Eugenio Derbez, as Carlitos’ cross-country companion; and acting royalty, like the elder Carmen Salinas, who plays the “coyote” (the smuggler) and fresh Ernesto D’Alessio, Carlitos’ estranged father in the movie. There is also a cameo by musical superstars, Los Tigres del Norte.
Better-known Latino actors to American audiences also star, like America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty”), and Adriàn Alonso (“Zorro”), who plays Carlitos.
A powerful cast along with a powerful story makes all contemplations “Under the Same Moon” worthwhile.
