Despite all the palaver out there about living in the land of opportunity, it's hard to imagine living with the panic that is the constant companion to Carlos Galindo. He's a Los Angeles day worker. Even worse, he's an illegal immigrant with a teenage son, Luis, who was born in Los Angeles. If Carlos is caught, he will be deported and Luis will be alone.
Demian Bicher is excellent as Carlos, the lead in "A Better Life," which opens today. He has risen from day work to a semi-job as a gardener, but even though it is not his fault that the job disappears, he must return to a street corner where immigrants struggle for recognition and a day of work. At the same time, he is passionate about keeping his son out of the clutches of the gang society that is pervasive in East L.A.
Jose Julian is almost equally powerful as Luis, a high-schooler in a building that looks like a prison. It feels that way, too, in Chris Weitz' film, from a screenplay written by Eric Eason,
who worked from a story by Roger Simon.
Carlos lives like far too many thousands of people in this country. As an illegal immigrant, he does not even have a driver's license. He cannot borrow money, or even become ill. A real life, free of terror, is beyond him. When he takes a chance of acquiring respectability and legality, his world turns upside down.
Weitz tells a good story. A ride through the city quietly emphasizes the disparate — and desperate — lives of people who live on the edge, and his actors are people who seek not pity, but a chance to rise through society then way so many millions of Americans did.
A Better Life opens today at the Plaza Frontenac
—Joe