Film review: Entre Nos

Entre Nos tells the story of a Colombian immigrant mother, Mariana, and her two children, Gabriel and Andrea, struggling to get along in New York City after her husband leaves them. Acted out in Spanish with English subtitles, the story is beautifully told and captured by Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte.

The scenes carry a sense of authenticity because the actors make the movie seem so natural. One of the scenes that particularly stood out was when Mariana was walking through the streets trying to sell empanadas for a dollar. It captured the indifference of city passers and the difficult endeavor of someone trying to make money in any way possible.

The authenticity of the film stems from the storyteller Paola Mendoza, the daughter of the mother portrayed in the film. She created this film as a tribute to her own mother and mothers everywhere scraping by, trying to create a better life for their families. 

The film shows the family through their scramble to stay afloat. We follow them as they sleep in the streets, try to sell empanadas, dig through trash for cans to sell, and finally settling into an apartment.  With each new challenge Mariana and her children face, we begin to recognize the hardships immigrants and impoverished people face, including the ones that are often overlooked such as medical attention to child care.

Mendoza intended for this film to touch audiences in a way that would make them recognize the reform that is needed to help immigrants searching for a new life in our country of advertised hope.

“This is why comprehensive immigration reform is so essential. We cannot sustain a system that champions the destruction of families,” wrote Mendoza. “Mothers know the importance of bringing people together, of overcoming our differences in order to let love and hope triumph over challenges that threaten to break us apart and hold us back.”

For its wonderful storytelling abilities and naturally captured emotions, Entre Nos is an excellent film that touches its audience with the warmth and dedication of Mariana (Mendoza). It shares its message in a way that really provokes its audience in an attempt to gain recognition for the challenges that immigrants must endure in order to even pursue the so-called “American Dream.”

Tiffany Truong

https://www.momsrising.org/blog/the-story-behind-my-film-entre-nos

Image source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1212456/