La misma luna: What This Film Meant for Children of Immigrants

Director Patricia Riggen is one of the many people who have kept the conversation open about immigration with her 2008 film, La misma luna (Under the Same Moon). Its clear purpose was to bring attention to the struggle of the undocumented, but I would argue that this story is also showcasing the hardships that come with being the child of an immigrant. In this film we see the mother encounter endless obstacles, but we also see her nine-year-old son, Carlitos struggle greatly too. 

I wanted to bring attention to Carlitos’s need to translate; having to act as a professional translator is not new to any son or daughter of immigrants. Carlitos, living in Mexico, is shown to work with a womxn named Carmen whose job is to help people cross the border. Working at a business like Carmen’s he needs to be able to understand everything and translate effectively. Parents often unfamiliar with the English language will ask their children just like Carlitos for help reading and communicating. Carlitos, like many others, had to grow up fast in order to keep up and be able to help his family just like many of us first-generation students had to. 

The second scene in the film I wanted to discuss is where two Chicanos agreed to cross Carlitos to the U.S. for money. They are terrified, but they also feel they have no other option. The girl mentions how it was either this or they give up earning a degree and retain a massive debt they’ll never pay off. This moment shows how the parent’s struggle to get to America was only one side of the battle, the children struggle to make a name for their family is another, often an enormous pressure.

In a final scene, Carlitos is discussing his anger towards his mother and how he felt she didn’t care for him, a man named Enrique who had been helping Carliots asks him if he enjoyed his experience crossing the border, did he enjoy running from the INS, did he enjoy picking tomatoes, did he enjoy having to wash dishes just to have a place to sleep and eat because “no one chooses to live like this unless they have a good reason and I’m sure for [your mother] that reason is you.” With parents and children, there is often a disconnect, the sacrifices both have made are never directly addressed but always assumed; the one goal is to simply repay the unspoken sacrifices of our parents. 

This film was great because I felt, like many others in my place, that I am not alone in my struggles and that there are plenty of others who are fighting the same fight and are trying their absolute best to be someone for their family.

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