The Fargo Forum

Now playing at the Fargo "Under the Same Moon," a so far well received indie about a Mexican woman and her 9 year old boy that are separated while she works(illegally) in Los Angeles as a maid and her son Carlitos(spectacularly played by Adriano Alonso) is cared for by his grandmother in Mexico. His grandmother passes on, and Carlitos, based on skimpy information and with money he has saved from his job helping an agency that specializes in getting Mexicans into the US illegally, takes off to find his mother. At the same time, his mother, who calls him every week from a certain pay phone in LA, decides she's had enough and tries to find the means to find Carlitos. The hype says the movie is about the struggle of mother and son to find each other, but I think it's Alonso's movie from start to finish, although there are some very strong performances by characters Carlitos meets on his journey.

The movie could be just that, and it would be a sweet family movie if it were. But it's not. Oh, yes, that story is told, but it is told against the backdrop of the frightening, brutal, don't trust anyone lives of illegal immigrants.

The movie stretched my imagination at times, but the portrayal of Mexican illegals was fascinating. Without that, I probably would have found the movie too sweet for my taste, but in this case the story just added a sweetener to a bitter dish.

If you like family movies about family values, you probably would like this, but be prepared to ignore some unpleasantness. If you enjoy seeing movies portraying things we hear about but don’t know much about, this is almost a must see. If you want violence and chase scenes, try something else.

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