DVD E ENTRE NOS

ENTRE NOS

Written by TroyAnderson Jul 13th 2010 Hits: 186 Favorites

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THE PLOT THUS FAR

Mariana (Paola Mendoza) is determined to keep her family together. Her children, Gabriel (Sebastian Villada Lopez), 10, and Andrea (Laura Montana Cortez), 6, have grown up in Colombia without their father. He immigrated to the United States years earlier in order to make a better life for his family. Finally after many years of separation the family is reunited in New York City. After coming home late from work one night Antonio announces he has found work in Miami and will be moving there...alone. He will send for the family when he is settled. Days go by and Mariana does not hear from him. Worried and desperate, she goes to her only friend s home only to find out Antonio is not coming back. The rent is due, there is no food on the table and Mariana has fifty dollars to her name. With no one to turn to, she must find a way, in a strange city where she barely speaks the language, to provide for her family, financially and emotionally. Mariana makes homemade empanadas (meat patties), which she tries to sell on the streets, however this quickly fails. With all options closing in on her, Mariana turns to the city's trash, collecting cans in order to put food on the table. With Gabriel and Andrea working beside her, the family finds the most stability they have known since their arrival, and it is during these challenging moments that the family triumphs. In entre nos, Mariana, Gabriel and Andrea take us on a remarkable journey where we bear witness to a family s commitment to survival and their unrelenting hope for the American dream...one soda can at a time.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

A Latino mother and her two children are stranded in Queens when their philandering, irresponsible father deserts them. There English is almost nil and now they must support themselves asap. First the wife tries selling homemade Espanadas on the street. Then she tries getting day labor by standing on Latino labor street corners. And finally ends up collecting cans for their deposits with her young son and daughter beside her. They are barely making it when they get evicted from their apartment. And then they become homeless and have to sleep outdoors.

"Entre Nos" unfolds as a series of relentlessly-grim scenarios which add up to paint a plausible picture of the enormous challenges encountered by foreigners endeavoring to adjust to this country's unforgiving inner-city environs. Miraculously, against all odds, the hardy trio not only survives but ultimately flourishes, with the audience being informed via telling, closing credits postscripts that matriarch Mariana eventually remarried and had another daughter, that her stoic, young son grew up to become a successful college administrator.

The DVD comes with a directors' commentary track and a look behind-the-scenes. There's also some PSAs about immigration reform and a short film from Paola Mendoza. If that wasn't enough, you get a working recipe for empanadas. It's sad to say, but I enjoyed the empanadas more than the film. The A/V Quality is pretty good for an indie, but I spotted digital noise at points. Oh well, it's a rental.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!