By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
No matter where you stand on immigration, A Better Life is must-see viewing, poignantly revealing what it's like living confined to the shadows of contemporary society.
By Merrick Morton, Summit Entertainment
Son and father: Jose Julian, left, and Demian Bichir strive for a better life in Los Angeles.
By Merrick Morton, Summit Entertainment
Son and father: Jose Julian, left, and Demian Bichir strive for a better life in Los Angeles.
The story is about the lengths a parent will travel ? literally and figuratively ? to provide his child the best opportunities.
It's not overtly political. But it shines a light on neighborhoods many drive past and chronicles people who often go unseen, by choice and circumstance.
The movie takes a probing look at one immigrant's story through a lens of humanity. Watching this gently profound film could help lawmakers reach a more clear-eyed understanding of a thorny problem.
Carlos (Demian Bichir) is a hard-working Mexican-born gardener who does his best to fly under the radar of the authorities, living in fear of being stopped for a minor offense and facing deportation. In every other sense, he's law-abiding and staunchly ethical.
Laboring long hours on a Los Angeles gardening crew, Carlos has singlehandedly raised his only son, Luis (Jose Julian), 14. His wife left when Luis was very young, and Carlos has quietly carried on.
We see the daily rigors of Carlos' job, tending lawns and risking peril to trim the towering palm trees of people far more fortunate. Meanwhile, Luis has begun to drift away, drawn to a local gang. He looks down on his father, regarding his work as servile. Nevertheless, Carlos sleeps on the couch in their one-bedroom apartment so Luis can have the bed and get enough rest to do well in school.
Spurred by the desire to protect Luis from gang influences, Carlos takes a financial risk, investing what little he has to buy a truck and start his own gardening business.
Things take a bad turn, and all Carlos has worked for is jeopardized. Carlos and Luis team up to rectify things and, in the process, come to understand each other.
Illustrative details make a powerful impression. A Mexican "charro" show adds a vibrant element of authenticity, and an appealing Latin-flavored score by Alexandre Desplat beautifully accents the story.
But the bravura performances set the film apart.
Bichir (the scary druglord Esteban on Showtime's Weeds) is pitch-perfect as the humble Carlos. He brings a subtle grace and dignity, as well as heartwrenching sadness, to the role.
Newcomer Julian, 16 when he made the movie, is wonderfully natural as Luis ? sullen when the part calls for it, but with a core of nobility.
The screenplay by Eric Eason is deftly realized by director Chris Weitz (About a Boy). Weitz is a versatile director who can segue smoothly from big-budget movies like The Twilight Saga: New Moon to this modest, character-driven film.
In his impeccably structured tale, Weitz conveys the ever-present anxiety underlying the determination of people in a precarious situation. His compassionate portrait imbues the world it illuminates with sympathy, but never pity. Nor does it turn ordinary people into glossy heroes.
By focusing on the personal ? a father intent on making his son's life better ? this moving film rings universally true.
Ashley Greene Adrianne Curry Alicia Keys Sophia Bush Malin Akerman
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