Between Us (2009)

Entre nos does several things well; it plays on our emotions and sympathy, introduces us to different cultural dynamics, offers us humor and leads to an ending that leaves us satisfied. We are introduced to Mariana (Paola Mendoza) and her two children Gabriel (Sebastian Villada Lopez), 10, and Andrea (Laura Montana Cortez), 6,who have emigrated from Columbia to be with their father and husband Antonio in New York City.In an underhanded move Antonio tells Mariana that he has to go to Miami to work for awhile and he will return when he is done. That is not the case as Mariana soon learns that he has left her with no intentions of ever coming back or seeing her and the children again. A prickling horror overcomes her as she realizes she has no money, no job, does not speak English, has two children to care for, and is in a foreign country that she has only been in for two weeks with no one to turn to.The most humble moments come when Mariana takes to making empanadas to try to sell on the streets which is a complete failure. They are eventually thrown on the streets and Mariana, Gabi and Andrea have to come to terms with the very basics of survival. They find a surprising source of income: the city's recycling can program and soon take to combing through trash cans to make ends meet. Gabi takes it upon himself to become a man at age 10 by working the streets collecting cans when his mother cannot.It is a film that will leave you thinking about it for awhile after you have viewed it and may change your ideas about the homeless and immigrants. The scene where Mariana is sitting on a park bench in the dark surrounded by her sleeping children will pull at mother's heartstrings and any viewer as you share in the despair of the situation. This movie tells a remarkable tale of a family clawing towards the American dream.It was the ending that really got to me when the epilogue revealed that this was a true story and the actress that plays Mariana is actually the daughter in real life who directed and wrote this film for her mother. In my opinion this was the ultimate way to honor her mother and she did a great job of capturing the pain, secrets, and heartbreaking moments as well as the inspirational hope that you will leave with from this film.You will also get very hungry for empanadas!!!

Entre Nos is the intriguing true story of a newly immigrated family from Columbia, attempting to assimilate into their new home in Queens, New York. Only being in the United States for two weeks, the father of the family leaves the family for Miami to fend for themselves. Mariana and her two children Gabriel and Andrea are left in New York City with no money and little hope. The struggle that unfolds is Entre Nos.Not only was the acting in Entre Nos fantastic, but the directing and production was equally as well done. Every actor in this film was shown to be capable of emitting perfectly personified emotions. When making a film about such a grave subject, there are a lot of ways in which a director can go. In Entre Nos, the director takes us through the emotional roller-coaster that is Mariana's life and portrays the battle that is being a mother. This amazing story of motherhood follows Mariana and her two children around New York City as they struggle to make ends meet as immigrants in a new country.One of the scenes that caught my attention most in Entre Nos was about two thirds of the way through the film, when, like several other times throughout the film, Mariana goes to a pay phone to call her man that has left for Miami. When she gets to the phone, instead of being tolerant like Mariana normally is, she picks the phone up and after dialing several numbers, almost instantly starts slamming the phone as hard as she can into the receiver. The other times that Mariana called him she either left a message asking him to call her, or left a very angry message. It is very significant to the film that this time she does neither of these. Mariana's frustration is depicted in this scene, and seems like this is how just about anyone would react in this situation. This scene in the film is when Mariana seems to realize that there is no way that she would consider seeing her man again, let alone moving to Miami to find him. The reason that I like this scene so much is that I find the emotions that are shown here seem to be so real. I feel that it is very difficult to capture real emotions on film, especially through actors. However, in this scene we see a perfect portrayal of real emotions. Although I have no idea how Mariana must actually feel, she does a nice job of making me think I do in this scene.Anyone who is a parent will love this movie. Entre Nos does a magnificent job of showing the viewer not only how important mother's are to their children, but also how much of a struggle it can be to relocate a family to a new country. Mariana shows us that although money is a part of being a parent, it is clearly not the most important thing when raising children. From this film, we can see that the most important ingredient in parenting is love. We come to understand this as the film comes to a close, and we see that although Gabriel and Andrea grew up in extreme poverty, they went on to become successful and contributing members of society.

LOVED IT!!! Mendoza created nothing less than a beautiful masterpiece with Entre Nos. This movie follows the struggles of an Hispanic single parent family and how they were able to turn the tables on a life of homelessness and poverty. Mariana, the main character (single mother), was left hung out to dry by her no good low-life husband right off the bat. This forced a certain chain of events to take place that led Mariana and her two children down a path of pain, poverty, and homelessness. In the hopes of obtaining money to feed her children, provide them with entertainment, and supply a place to live (they originally got evicted from their first apartment) Mariana and her children collected tin cans from the trash and sold them to recycling firms for dollars a day. By the end of the movie Mariana's son was able to go back to school and herself had obtained a job that allowed her to buy new clothes, stay in their new apartment, and more significantly tithe to the church (a sign of being financially well off enough to spend extra money). Family is the glue that holds the world together and this movie is the perfect portrayal of this. The overall tone of the movie was a dramatic one. The music set a sad setting for a majority of the movie and the sepia colors along with the deep contrast in brights and darks further reinforced the already down trodden feeling of the movie. Family and love for the family unit kept Mariana and her children afloat in this movie and this made me love my family that much more because of it. I can only hope that this movie provides the same insight it did for me in the sense of seeing immigration in a completely different light and having more respect for the people that are just trying make it in life on a daily basis. I recommend Entre Nos to anyone who enjoys a quality dramatic film based on true events with a pleasantly happy ending.

Entre Nos provides a completely different perspective on immigration. Being based on a true story about the director, main actress and writer's (all the same person) family, you begin to wonder where American's get their ideas about immigration form. When most Americans think about immigration these days they think of people stealing jobs and depending on their taxes for the immigrant's children to go to school. However, this movie offers an almost disturbing alternative to this cushy life American's picture. Between the abortion, the trash collecting, the father leaving the family behind and all these other horrible events, it's hard to look at immigration in that light.In the beginning, we are introduced to a Latino family from Colombia that seems pretty happy together in New York City. They have food to spare, friends over for dinner, clean clothing and a roof over their head, but when the father leaves you know he's not going to come back, and with him, he takes away the stability that the family has been depending on. There's not any food, clothing or even a place to sleep at night soon after he leaves.During this time there is only trash and bleak surroundings that are gross and dangerous. The lighting is harsh on the screen and brings out shadows in not only their surroundings, but their faces, and helps add to the overbearing grimness in the film. Not to mention the sad tune playing in the background, but the thing that makes this film all too real to the audience has to be the expressions on the actors/actresses faces and the way they are dressed. The tired, pained and hungry expressions that you find in all of the faces is so real this almost seems more like a documentary than an art-house film. Then there's the clothes that they're wearing are filthy and covered in dirt, and just hanging off of them. Their belongings are small and mostly hold no real significance. Other than the family photo that the son keeps in his pocket to remember the times when his father was around.This was a great movie about survival, and I'd recommend it to anyone that wants to watch a heart-wrenching film for a good cry. I'd even recommend it to anyone that thinks that immigration is some life of luxury, in order to see an alternative point of view.