Under The Same Moon

Under The Same Moon was a phenomenal movie which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival where it received a standing ovation. The story is about 9 year old Carlitos’ journey from Mexico to the United States. After Carlitos’ grandmother dies, he decides to make the dangerous trek to find his mother who is working as a maid in the US. He enters illegally which makes his course treacherous and risky, especially for someone so young. On his way he meets some interesting good-hearted characters along with some who have more sinister things in mind for Carlitos. This movie was very interesting and I can actually say it made me laugh and cry. The one thing I didn’t like was the ending. I wish they would have added just a little more to it. You’ll know what I mean when you see it. The movie is in Spanish but it does come with subtitles and it was loosely based on “Enrique’s Journey”, an ethnography by Sonia Nazario. They very loosely based it on this true story because the journeys some of these children have to make are too horrific and depressing so they had to change many things for the movie. All of the actors did an awesome job but I was particularly impressed with Adrian Alonso, the little boy who played Carlitos. He is such a great actor for someone so young. Some of you may have already seen him in his first American film The Legend of Zorro. America Ferrera also makes a short appearance in the movie.