6/28/08

Under the Same Moon

"La Misma Luna" is a wonderful, wonderful movie!

I was advised to go see it by someone who was going to join me, but failed to show. (Ahem. You know who you are...smile...) It didn't matter! I was transported from the first frame.

Carlitos, played by Adrian Alonzo, is a nine-year-old Mexican boy who lives with his grandmother and works for a "Coyote." He sees many aspiring immigrants, desperate to get to the United States, fork over astonishing amounts of money for safe passage. Every Sunday morning at 10:00 AM, his mother calls him from a pay phone in California where she works as a domestic, saving her money to pay her son's way... eventually....The apple didn't fall very far from the tree, as he too, has been saving HIS money! They are both desperate to be together; she has been gone for four long, sad, formative years.

His sickly grandmother dies in the night and Carlitos knows if he stays, a sleazy uncle will take over, simply to get his hands on the $300.00 Carlitos receives each month from his hard-working mother, played by the lovely Kate del Castillo. He has a general idea of how people cross the border, so he grabs his savings and takes off. Most of the script is in Spanish and the captions are welcome, but the translation is realistic and authentic.

America Ferrera from the television show "Ugly Betty" does a cameo in this film, and one of the principal actors, Eugenio Derbez, is evidently a well-known and much loved comic actor in Mexico. I know he's really good in THIS role. This terrific little saga will bring you faces you will come to adore, believable characters and situations, excitement, lots of humor, and a deep abiding belief in the goodness of human nature.

Right down my alley, correct?

I LOVED it!