Between Us (2009)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Best movie ever!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film Entre Nos was a very powerful and gripping film about an immigrant family in America. The movie used well planned camera technique to dramatically tell the story of clawing to success in America. The movie inspired a cluster of emotions including sympathy, sadness, pity, and even anger. The emotions of pity and sadness were obvious responses to the family's struggle but some viewers even felt angry and disappointed with America for allowing this family to suffer. These viewers probably believe someone should have stepped in and saved this family from despair. The emotion I felt, however, was pride and appreciation for my country. I believe the creator of this film made this movie not to condemn this country but to show what is possible for people willing to work hard. American history is full of stories of hardship but out of this hardship usually comes achievement. A recent Chrysler commercial proclaimed that, "It's the hottest fires that make the hardest steel" referring to the struggle in Detroit and no words better fit this movie. Marianna faced multiple hardships and it made her work harder and eventually finds success. She did not give up or feel sorry for herself but she did work harder to pull her family out of the depths of suffering. Her family's story is the ultimate symbol of what this country stands for, which is allowing any person to work for their own happiness and success. Entre Nos is a perfect movie for someone wanting a reminder of why people risk it all to come to America.

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!

Entre Nos provides a completely different perspective on immigration. Being based on a true story about the director, main actress and writer's (all the same person) family, you begin to wonder where American's get their ideas about immigration form. When most Americans think about immigration these days they think of people stealing jobs and depending on their taxes for the immigrant's children to go to school. However, this movie offers an almost disturbing alternative to this cushy life American's picture. Between the abortion, the trash collecting, the father leaving the family behind and all these other horrible events, it's hard to look at immigration in that light.In the beginning, we are introduced to a Latino family from Colombia that seems pretty happy together in New York City. They have food to spare, friends over for dinner, clean clothing and a roof over their head, but when the father leaves you know he's not going to come back, and with him, he takes away the stability that the family has been depending on. There's not any food, clothing or even a place to sleep at night soon after he leaves.During this time there is only trash and bleak surroundings that are gross and dangerous. The lighting is harsh on the screen and brings out shadows in not only their surroundings, but their faces, and helps add to the overbearing grimness in the film. Not to mention the sad tune playing in the background, but the thing that makes this film all too real to the audience has to be the expressions on the actors/actresses faces and the way they are dressed. The tired, pained and hungry expressions that you find in all of the faces is so real this almost seems more like a documentary than an art-house film. Then there's the clothes that they're wearing are filthy and covered in dirt, and just hanging off of them. Their belongings are small and mostly hold no real significance. Other than the family photo that the son keeps in his pocket to remember the times when his father was around.This was a great movie about survival, and I'd recommend it to anyone that wants to watch a heart-wrenching film for a good cry. I'd even recommend it to anyone that thinks that immigration is some life of luxury, in order to see an alternative point of view.

Entre Nos is not a movie that I would have normally chosen to watch on my own but I thoroughly and truly enjoyed it. Although it was not in my own native language, the subtitles made up for that. Paola Mendoza does a wonderful job as both the director and main actress, playing the mother of two young children. After moving to the United States, Mariana and her children take on a number of hardships. They make due by doing menial jobs and eventually finding a place to live after having been evicted from their apartment.This movie exemplifies the problems that people who move to the United States face. Moving to a country where one does not understand the language in any form, written or spoken. Entre Nos also shows what can happen when one's world falls out beneath them and one has to start from essentially nothing. When things do not seem as if they cannot get any worse, they do, and when the viewer wonders how this mother, Mariana, can go on, she manages to.There is not a lot of dialogue in this movie but that is more than made up for by the scenery and use of the camera. When the family is forced out of their home, there is a scene on a stairway where they sleep. There is light shining down on them and Mariana does her best to protect her children. The use of light in this scene allows it to say so much without any dialogue whatsoever.The best thing that can be said about this movie is its depiction of the perseverance of human beings. For what I am assuming was a low budget movie, it is done remarkably well. Mariana makes the best of the situation that she is placed in and she does this the best way that she knows how to at the time. Some of her decisions might be viewed as selfish by some but everything that she does is to protect her children and do right by them at the time. Entre Nos is a movie that showcases what happens if you do not let your situation define who you are and what you will become as a person. It is not a sugarcoated and is a bit dark at times so if one is sensitive to certain parts of life they should take caution before viewing but they would be missing out as it is a movie that is worth watching.