A Better Life Movie Analysis

Dennis Hoang

ENG108-21096

Assignment # 4

February 27, 2012

A Better Life Movie Analysis

1. Who are the main characters in the movie? Describe their personalities.

The main characters in the film are very good, Carlos is playing an undocumented Mexican worker living in a rundown apartment of East Los Angeles, , doing landscaping for Beverly Hills swells, and quietly struggling to earn the goal for the sake not so much for himself but for his adolescent son. Carlos imbues the character with a lot of dignity and strength. By way of showing Carlos as fastidious and responsible, the film includes a scene of him unmaking the linens on the couch one morning. Besides, The second-best character is the performance by Luis, Carlos' son who's at risk of being swept into gang. He complements Carlos's quiet strength with a combination of typical teen arrogance and touching vulnerability.

2. Where do they come from? What do we know about their live before coming to America?

Carlos and Luis come from Mexico. In Mexico, there are more poor than in American cities. Before coming to America, their lives are same as other Mexican poor. They live in a tiny house with a dirt floor, have only a 6th grade education because that's all the government requires, and after that, the only option is private school, which their family could not afford. A pretty decent job in a factory is earning 8 pesos an hour, and this helps their family get by, but it doesn't help them get ahead. It would certainly be easier in some ways for them to stay in Mexico, but for those who have chosen to move to the United States, the risk and discomfort are worth the benefits to their families.

3. What are some of the difficulties the father and son face in East Los Angeles?

When Carlos arrives in the United States with his wife and son, Carlos tries to become an American citizen, but a lawyer rips him off. Then his wife leaves him. When Blasco who owns the lawn business, decides to go back to Mexico, he offers to sell Carlos his truck and equipment. Since Carlos has no driver's license, and because a routine traffic violation could result in deportation for him, he is reluctant at first. Eventually he takes up his sister's generous offer of a loan and buys the truck but the truck was stolen by a day laborer. The truck theft is the kind of infuriating but minor crime most people would handle with a call to the police and an insurance agent but that those kind of easy options aren't available to illegal immigrants as Carlos. He seems losing everything for a hope to move his son into a better neighborhood and away from the gangs the boy has so far tenuously