A Better Life

"Why do all these poor people have kids, what's the point?"

A Better Life crept onto many people's radars (myself included) due to the unexpected Oscar-nominated performance of Demian Bichir. The film isn't the big, fanfare-attracting kind of film that usually gets that kind of attention, but it's a subtle burner that looks at the Mexican-American immigrant story with unwavering empathy and has a ring of authenticity about it. It's basically about a single man (Carlos, an illegal immigrant) and his son trying to get by in America. It's a hard situation because Carlos has to work constantly just for them to stay alive, which means he's largely absent from his son's life.

This is the American immigrant story told in personal but resonating terms. The hardworking first generation begets a criminal second generation, kids who are lazy and fed off the spoils of their despondent fathers... kids like Luis (Jose Julian) who don't have the same identity due to having been brought up in America instead of Mexico. There's a loss of culture happening with these kids, and since they don't fit with mainstream American culture this gets replaced with a gang mentality. The film examines this problem with unflinching honesty; this second generation is educated not by their elders but by their peers.

In A Better Life we see two worlds of hispanics in L.A. that exist side by side - the modern gangs that feed off crime, and the illegal immigrants trying to carve a better life through industry. It's a complex and heartbreaking paradox that all the hard work of the first generation gives way to such anti-social behaviour in their children, and I think this film goes some way towards bridging the discrepencies between these two worlds. It's full of damningly concise moments that juxtapose the different lifestyles of the two generations - cutting from Carlos sharing his food with another jobless man as they both wait on the street for work to a scene that depicts heavily tattooed teenagers leaning on cars blaring with hip hop music. It's obvious stuff, but it feels real here because everything else about the film is so understated yet earnest.

It really is quite a heartbreaking story... Carlos is so proud when he finally gets a truck of his own and his son is all like "Good for you" and Carlos corrects him by saying, "Good for us". He refers to the truck as "our truck" but to the kid it's nothing. He has no concept of what his father does for him, and at some level Carlos knows this. Demian Bichir definitely deserved his Oscar nomination for the role of Carlos, the pain he goes through is all under the surface. He's a real life hero, an honest man in a hard world trying to teach his son true manhood. He's Atticus Finch as a Mexican gardener. Watch this film for a great piece of restrained acting and for some insight into the world of illegal immigrants - this is their story, and it captures the simple, desperate and heartfelt honesty of their situations.

DIRECTOR: Chris Weitz
WRITER/SOURCE: Screenplay by Eric Eason, with story input from Roger L. Simon.
KEY ACTORS: Demian Bichir, Jose Julian, Eddie 'Piolon' Sotelo, Nancy Lenehan, Joaquin Cosio

RELATED TEXTS
- Films about people traveling to America to make a better life for themselves: The Visitor, Stroszek and Maria Full of Grace.
- Carlos' journey with his son echoes that of the father and son in Bicycle Thieves.
- Films about gangs in L.A. - Colors, Training Day, 187, Boyz N The Hood, Stand and Deliver, The Freedom Writers, Fresh and City of God.
- Director Chris Weitz also touched on themes of fatherhood and growing up with American Pie and About a Boy.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - nominated for Best Actor (Demian Bichir).
Independent Spirit Awards - nominated for Best Actor (Bichir)