little heros

I finally saw La Misma Luna/Under The Same Moon last night, and I cried at the end. (Dan only lasted half-way through.)

It's a cute and sad story about a little Mexican boy who decides to reunite with his mother in Los Angeles. He gets himself across the border, and all the way from Arizona to California. On the way we get to see him connect with the lives of undocumented immigrants, and Mexican Americans: picking tomatoes, washing dishes, singing sad songs in Spanish about immigrant life (when he is given a ride by Los Tigres Del Norte, the Grammy winning group).

The movie reminded me a lot of The Italian, in which a young Russian boy runs away from an orphanage and sets out to find his mother.

In spirit both films remind me of Astrid Lindgren stories, where resilient kids take matters into their own hands, outsmart grown-ups, face challenges, and finally reunite with idealised parents or siblings. Stories like that are heart warming, but La Misma Luna is sad in that it reminds us of all the real-life kids who never get to go. Or who die in the desert and never make it.