j-henry1027
The story of one family's journey from Colombia to New York City describes the emotional film entitled Entre Nos. Mariana, a mother, and her two children try and survive a new life in a foreign city but the obstacles they face aren't so easy. With no money and no hope, it seems hard to survive.Entre Nos is applauded for the director's excellent and precise camera work. This film is able to thrive with little to no dialogue and minimal plot because the angles in which this film is shot allows the audience to truly feel the pain and sorrow that the family experiences. From the camera being close up in the faces of the family members to the camera being far away showing a larger picture of the poverty the family is living in, the audience is able to sense and feel the agony and emotional intensity of the family's unfortunate situation. The larger shots show the family's living situations. Many of these scenes contain trash, vacant areas, and even the apartment the family is able to eventually settle in until they can make ends meet. The close up's show the emotion seen within the faces of the family, further reinforcing the challenges the family is faced with everyday whether or not they are going to eat, have a place to sleep, or money to even survive.One of the most powerful scenes within the film is when Mariana's oldest son, Gabi, is standing behind a chain-link fence and looking onto a school and it's playground. The scene is shot at a wide angle and shows Gabi standing behind the fence and then zooms into Gabi's hand and you can see the dirt underneath Gabi's nails. This scene is so powerful because the chain-link fence represents all of the challenges and obstacles the family has faced once they have arrived in New York City. The family feels like they can never get ahead. The dirt shown underneath Gabi's nails shows the poverty that the family is experiencing. The family is living day to day with no place to sleep, no soap and water, no nothing. The fact that Gabi is looking at the school and wishing he could go there some day shows that in actuality that Gabi is still just a kid. He feels the need to protect his family because he is the only boy and tries to collect cans for his family so they can have a little bit of cash, but behind this hard front Gabi puts on, he is just an innocent kid who wants to go to school like the rest of the them. This scene truly depicts what type of emotional and physical hardship that not only Gabi is experiencing, but Mariana and her youngest child also.I recommend this film because it is a great eye opener. Many Americans feel the need to look down upon or negatively towards immigrants. This film shows that immigrants are people too and the unfortunate challenges they experience when moving to somewhere foreign.
duvelian
In this day and age, it is easy for one to become so busy or wrapped up in their life that they may not always think of the impoverished people in the world. This is a common shame, for those people are all important, just as we. They should be thought of much more often! I have just been fortunate enough to have taken the time to watch the movie Entre Nos. I must say, this a film that everyone should stop and see! Entre Nos truly opened my eyes to a life that I have been blind to. As if walking like a zombie on the streets, I did not see the woes of poverty. Although there was little dialogue and a lack of plot, there still remained substance to the film. The touching, and true, story of the film was based on the life of Paola Mendoza. Mendoza's honest script and clever directing produced a movie that almost made me cry! That's right: Paola Mendoza wrote, directed, and starred in her film Entre Nos. This is one amazing Colombian woman, and her tale is no less extraordinary than her accomplishments. For in Entre Nos, the truth is the plot and that spoke volumes.The 2009 film Entre Nos was written, directed, and starred Paola Mendoza. It is a brilliant película dramática that shows audiences the hardships of a life of poverty. Set and filmed on the streets of New York, Entre Nos reveals the secret to survival. Mendoza really captured the importance of family, her family, on film. I was fascinated by watching Mendoza portray her mother, Mariana, since she was really Andrea, Mariana's daughter, in real life. What a Borges-ian spin to the story! This allowed me to try to look at her story from both point of views, that of her mother and her own. The strength in the family's relationship is clearly exhibited throughout this entire film! It was inspiring to see! I tried to imagine what my family would be like in Mendoza's situation. I can only hope we would be as strong and able for each other! Nonetheless, Mendoza's theme of love, family, and endurance was made more powerful by her understanding and first-hand account of her experience. These combined, affected me greatly as a viewer. I would first like to praise Mendoza and the other director/screenwriter, Gloria La Morte, on their portrayal of the film's setting. Their choice of barrenness and hard concrete scenery created a bleak atmosphere. As the family slept on newspapers on the cold, dark subway stairs, I felt as though I were next to them. With this illusion of vulnerability, I felt a closeness with the characters. It pained me to see such a struggle and heartache. Both the interior life and the outer world the director portrayed created a perception of sorrow. The interior life of the home was made with darker lighting and provided a cozier, safe atmosphere. There was not much to the interior but it was shades of gray, colorless. I feel that this gave the home life a look of pain and sorrow, like the emotions the characters were having. The home life always looked like it was missing something, something happy. The outer world was created with bright, sunny lighting yet bare, colorless surroundings. There was nothing but pavement, trash, and buildings. Well, not as much trash as one would think. The outer world was gray as well, yet the director put in intentional spots of color! For instance, the scene where Mariana is sitting outside the new apartment and the doors beside either side of her were colored a bright, emerald green. It was as if the director was trying to show the light of hope that seemed to keep Mariana going. Even though Mariana had times when she got really sad, she still kept going for her kids. I believe that is what the random, bright colors represent in the film. There was a certain emptiness to the home life that changed by the end of the movie, as Mariana's situation brightened with their surroundings. To see that day actually come was actually satisfying!After recognizing the depth to the surroundings, I must talk about the story itself! Paola Mendoza, Sebastian Villada, and Laura Montana gave compelling performances portraying Mendoza's past through the eyes of her mother, Mariana. The film takes place when their small Latin American family had just moved to the United States and was deserted by the father and liar/cheater of a husband. The mother, Mariana, is forced to find work and support her two children in a world that can't even communicate with her. It was an excellent choice to have the entire film in Spanish, with intermittent conversations carried out in two languages. The effect of the conversations carried out in two languages at once was one of confusion. I felt that this was to show the barrier that lies in communication between different nationalities. This barrier also represents the barrier that is between Mariana in poverty and the life she could have if she were home in Colombia or if she were an English-speaking American. That would be hard: to be starving and not be able tell someone who could help! The tight family of three overcomes grave poverty by sticking together, keeping up hope, and working hard, selflessly for the ones they love. Truly inspiring!I would like to recommend this film, Entre Nos, to anyone and everyone! I believe that this story of hope, perseverance, the bonds of family, and love should be shared with everyone in one's life. Of course, the fact that it is all in Spanish may make one shy to view it. Let it not! One should witness this struggle and triumph over poverty, if they have not yet experienced it themselves! It is good for your soul. Broaden your horizons, even though it takes place on your own doorstep everyday!
brittybits
For a person who enjoys dramas that evoke the rawest of emotions, this was of course a true example. I appreciate experiencing the emotions of characters of whom deal with the most excruciating circumstances. That is what is so great about watching a real film that contains life's most prominent difficulties: taking care of yourself, keeping a family together, and overcoming obstacles.Mariana, the mother of Gabriel and Andrea, is an exemplification of what any mother, or parent for that matter, should do for their children. She made sacrifices for her children so that they might still enjoy the pleasures of being a child, even if they were living on the streets. We see Mariana sit on the sidewalk while her kids go see a movie. She sometimes did not eat so that Gabriel and Andrea could instead.It would have been very easy in this situation for her to abandon the children just as Antonio had; however, she did everything possible in order to care for them. Even though the family suffered financially, there was no lack in the love and support they showed for one another. Gabriel took it upon himself to help collect cans early in the morning. He helped care for Andrea and he shared the emotional despair that his mother felt over losing her husband. Gabriel and Andrea shine throughout the film regardless of the lack of essentials in their lives. Even though Mariana could no longer trust her husband, and no doubt had trouble trusting other people, she found help in Preet, her landlord in the very cheap building the family rented. Nevertheless, Mariana struggles with being pregnant and yet acts as if nothing is in the way of caring for her kids. It has been noted that the image of Mariana on the park bench with Gabriel and Andrea in her lap is comparable to the sculpture of The Pieta by Michaelangelo. Of course, Mariana is much like Mary, the mother of Jesus. They even share similar names. She mourns for her children just as Mary did for Jesus' death. Entre Nos shows the overcoming of an epic struggle against poverty, language barriers, family complications, and so on. At the end of the film, we know that the family has overcome these when we see their faces shining with smiles and their presentable appearances. When Gabriel states on his first day of school that he "spent his first summer in the United States of America," we know that he is content and proud to be there.This film fulfills many common phrases such as, "you don't know what you have until it's gone" or "appreciate what you have." It is true though. It reminds us that love and strength are most important at the end of the day. It shows that sacrifices are not real unless the ones we love most are thought of more than ourselves.
