Under The Same Moon, He Said

This is a story of a little boy whose mother has chosen to come illegally to the United States and work in order to make a better life for him. He lives each week for the phone call that comes every Sunday at 10:00 a. m. His mother, also looks at these precious moments on the same corner, at the same pay phone as the highlight of her week and clearly this ritual gives them both hope. But this story is about much more than the hopes and dreams of a little Mexican boy and his mother. it is about the experience of many illegals in this county regardless of their country of origin or their reason for coming here. It's about the image we have as a country of inclusiveness and the reality of our fear of foreigners.

We, on one hand, depend on the hordes of South American illegal workers to pick our vegetables and fruits, to do our gardening and landscaping, to roof our houses clean our homes and tend our children, while at the same time pursue them for deportation. In one scene of this film Rosario, the mother of our hero Carlito, is fired by an obviously over-privileged, vain and thoughtless women for whom she has been working as a house maid. Not only does this women cruelly dismiss the young women who desperately needs the job, but she refuses to pay her for the time she has put in fort that week and taunts her because she knows Rosario has no recourse.

The story portrays for us the disliked and distrusted Mexican women in Carlito's home town, who arranges for people to cross the border illegally. She is resented for the high prices she charges and the apparent lack of concern for her customers, but she is tolerated because she is necessary in this corrupt business. We still find that she is only as cruel as she has to be to survive.

Our story begins with the death of Carlito's grandmother. He does not want to live with his greedy Uncle and he is tired of waiting for his mother to send for him or come home. He decides to go North and find her himself. His journey will entail the intervention and help of many people. Much of this part of the film is fanciful and somewhat unbelievable, but the spirit of the character of little Carlito is infectious and his cause is noble.

In the end, this film is uplifting and gratifying only because it depicts the best in the immigrants who come here seeking to better themselves. The story gloss's over what happens to those who in their hopelessness and need turn to crime and violence in order to survive. We need to be challenged to a greater extent for our duplicity and neglect of our fellow citizens of the world who look to us for leadership and example. At this point, we fail not only the Carlito's of the world, but our own ethic and image