Illegal Immigrants and the Movie a Better Life

A Better Life Response Paper A Better Life is the story of Carlos and his son Luis and Carlos attempt to provide his son a better life than what he has been given through hard work and hopefully some good fortune. This paper will look to summarize the movie through a perspective of the two main characters growth throughout the movie, as well as talk about some of the overriding themes of the movie and American culture relating to illegal aliens. The themes discussed will be stereotypes of “illegals,” the poor quality of life, and the injustice these people live every day. The movie starts with Carlos working and trying to grind out enough money to help him and Carlos, his somewhat troubled but still sensible high school aged son. Luis seems to be a victim of circumstance. He is very selfish and takes his fathers hard work for granted. He is bitter and doesn’t appreciate the sacrifices his father makes for him to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. He skips school regularly and gets into fights. To make things worse he hangs out with a poor crowd, his girlfriend has family ties with El Barrio (the Mexican Gangs) and his best friend wants to be involved with the gangs. We see a tremendous shift in his character throughout the movie though. When his fathers truck gets stolen he is right beside his dad looking to find the man who stole it. He wants nothing more than to help his father regain what he rightfully paid for. He gains some knowledge of his heritage at the Nacional Charro and gains a deeper respect for his people and heritage. When his father gets sent to jail he is deeply hurt and heads home to a message to find out he is being deported. He desperately reaches his aunt to take him to see his father one last time and they get to talk one last time before he goes back. It is a touching conversation and it ends with Luis telling his father that he must come back because he can’t live here on his own. He goes on to live with his aunt and it is