''A Better Life'' is a 2011 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Chris Weitz Christopher John Weitz (born November 30, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his work with his brother Paul on the comedy films '' American Pie'' and '' About a Boy''; the latter earned the Weitz ...

and written by

Eric Eason Eric Eason is an American film director and screenwriter. ''Manito'' His first feature film '' Manito'' premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize and went on to win 16 awards on the International Festival C ...

. It is based on

Roger L. Simon Roger Lichtenberg Simon (born November 22, 1943) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He was formerly CEO of PJ Media (formerly known as Pajamas Media) and is now its CEO Emeritus. He is the author of eleven novels, including the Moses Win ...

's story and follows an

undocumented immigrant Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...

gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner suppleme ...

and his son finding their

rent-to-own Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, real property, and engagement rin ...

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

. For his performance,

Demián Bichir Demián Bichir Nájera (; born 1 August 1963) is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in ''A Better Life''. Personal life Bichi ...

was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Actor The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...

Plot

Carlos Galindo is a gardener of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

working with his partner, Blasco. His son, Luis, studies at high school. Luis spends time with his girlfriend, who is affiliated with gang members. They pressure him to join them. On one occasion, Luis is suspended for assaulting a student. Carlos' sister, Anita, lends $12,000 from the family's emergency fund for Carlos to buy Blasco's truck. It is later stolen by Santiago, whom Carlos hired. The next day, Carlos and Luis head to the South Central apartment complex, which is used as lodgings for undocumented immigrant workers. One man tells the two that Santiago works at the nightclub. Carlos and Luis head to the restaurant, which would open during the night. At the

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

, Carlos mentions to Luis about his mother abandoning them. Luis mentions that he dislikes

Mexican music The music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably deriving from the culture of the Europeans, Indigenous, and Africans. It also ...

and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

. After finding Santiago at the nightclub, Carlos and Luis interrogate him in the parking lot. They learn that he has sold the truck to the garage and sent the money to his family in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. When Santiago pleads not guilty, Carlos defends him and Luis angrily leaves them. The next day, Carlos convinces Luis to go with him to the place where the truck is sold. After retrieving the truck, they are stopped by the police. Carlos is arrested and

incarcerated A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

as an undocumented American immigrant. Luis visits the detention center and reconciles with his father. After promising Luis that he will return, Carlos boards the deportation bus. Luis spends time with the family, while Carlos and other migrants travel through the

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

Cast

as Carlos Galindo * José Julián as Luis Galindo *

Dolores Heredia Dolores Heredia Lerma (born October 6, 1966) is a Mexican actress. Personal life She is the seventh of ten children who grew up in La Paz, Baja California Sur. Her mother was a photographer from Sinaloa, Lusiana Kornal and her father was a se ...

as Anita * Carlos Linares as Santiago *

Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo, (born December 1, 1972) is a Mexican radio broadcaster. He is currently host of the nationally syndicated radio show ''El Show De Piolín'' on Entravision''.'' His nickname means "Tweety Bird" in Mexican Spanish, a nickname ...

as Himself *

Joaquín Cosío Joaquín Cosío Osuna (born 6 October 1962) is a Mexican actor and poet. He is best known for roles such as Rubén "Mascarita" in ''Matando Cabos'' (2004), General Medrano in ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008), Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo in '' Narco ...

as Blasco Martinez *

Nancy Lenehan Nancy Lenehan (born April 26, 1953) is an American actress who has appeared in film and television since the 1980s. She is best known for Audrey in ''Grace Under Fire'' (1993-1998), Kay Hickey in ''My Name Is Earl'' (2005-2008), and Angela in ' ...

as Mrs. Donnely *

Gabriel Chavarria Gabriel Chavarria (born April 29, 1989) is an American actor. He played Jacob Aguilar in Hulu's ''East Los High'' and was the lead during Season One of USA Network's ''The Purge''. Career In 2007, Chavarria made his film debut ''Freedom Writers ...

as Ramon

Production

The film is uncommon among Hollywood productions as it is set in a Hispanic community and features an almost entirely Hispanic cast. Weitz used the film to explore the culture and geography of Los Angeles. Father Gregory Boyle of

Homeboy Industries Homeboy Industries is a youth program founded in 1992 by Father Greg Boyle following the work of the Christian base communities at Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. The program is intended to assist high-risk youth, former ...

, run by former gang members, helped Weitz and his crew with finding locations and making their film as authentic as possible. The language of the script was modified to reflect the actual slang used in Los Angeles, even reflecting linguistic differences from the street.

Release

The film was released on June 24, 2011.

Critical reception

Critical response to the film has been positive. It has garnered "fresh" rating from

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews, and an average rating of . The critical consensus reads: "Powered by a terrific performance from Demián Bichir, ''A Better Life'' is an immigrant story told with simplicity and an ample amount of heart." The critical aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

awarded the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 30 critics, signifying "generally positive reviews". Manohla Dargis, film critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', called the film "Touching and startling." Peter Travers of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' called the film "a haunting movie that gets under your skin." Writing for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'', Dave Karger called ''A Better Life'' an "unfussy, yet quite powerful drama with a terrific central performance by Demián Bichir." Karger called the film an "awards contender" and wrote, "With the right reviews and commercial reception, it could go even further." Roger Ebert, of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', wrote that "the performances are pitch perfect" and he gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' critic Richard Brody wrote: "The story unfolds without hagiography, pity, or trumped-up heroism, as the filmmaker approaches the lives of everyday people with modest compassion and imaginative sympathy. Amy Biancolli, writing in the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'', said "It's straight, true and heartbreaking, a masterstroke of raw emotional minimalism".

Awards

Telenovela version

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...

produced a

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

adaptation, '' Bajo el mismo cielo'', starring

Gabriel Porras Gabriel Porras (born Carlos Gabriel Porras Flores, February 13, 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican actor. He began his acting career working for TV Azteca in telenovelas like "Tres Veces Sofia" along with Mexican diva Lucía Méndez and " ...

and

María Elisa Camargo María Elisa Camargo (; born in Guayaquil, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian actress and activist. She started out as a contestant on The X Factor Colombia. She decided to knock on doors and start appearing in musical telenovelas after studying theatre as ...

. The series aired from July 28, 2015, to January 25, 2016.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Better Life 2011 films 2010s English-language films 2010s Spanish-language films 2011 drama films Hood films American drama films American independent films Films directed by Chris Weitz Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Summit Entertainment films Hispanic and Latino American films Hispanic and Latino American culture Films about illegal immigration to the United States Films scored by Alexandre Desplat 2011 multilingual films American multilingual films 2010s American films