A BETTER LIFE (ISA 2011) ****
Directed by Chris Weitz

The title of the film basically reveals what the film is all about.  An illegal alien, Carlos Galindo (Demian Bichir) from Mexico works hard as a gardener in East L.A. hoping to earn a better life for his son, Luis (Jose Julian) who seems distracted from school.

Films of this nature of immigrants legal or illegal often have trouble of a satisfactory ending.  The lead is either stuck in gang wars, drugs, bad influence from the old culture or deported.  A BETTER LIFE struggles with this problem in order to keep the film realistic, but at least it ends on an optimistic note.

The film depicts the difficult father/son relationship between Carlos and Luis.  As the film begins, director Weitz shows the rebellious and lazy side of the son.  But when the father has his truck which he spend his savings on stolen, the two bond together to find the truck.  Vittorio de Sica’s classic THE BICYCLE THIEF immediately comes to mind as both films have father and son searching for the vehicle that is essential for the father’s means of living.

Both lead actors are excellent.  The film is most effective when the two are together in a scene, each working off the other’s character.  As good as actor Bichir (who played Fidel Castro in CHE) is, it is Julian as the son who steals the show.  It helps that the script by Eric Eason manipulatively wins the audience to the boy’s side by having him convert from a lazy lout to a street-smart kid aiding his father who is too honest to get his truck back.

Despite the simple storyline and low budget, the atmosphere of East L.A. from the slang and the surroundings are accurate.  Then hip hop soundtrack works well too.  Weitz had the help of former gang members show him the ropes in the filming. 

The film gets a bit sappy at the end but it is a tearful scene when father and son are reunited after insidious circumstances. 

A BETTER Life is an excellent realistic drama that also shows the problem of illegal immigration.  Weitz shows two sides of the problem, as is evident in the scene where a concerned social worker tells Carlos of his options regarding deportation.