Two Films that Explore the Latino Experience in the US

Maria Full of Grace, is a power film that I suspect not too many people saw. It is powerful because it gives us a glimps of what poverty and hopelessnes drives human beings to do to survive (and a glimps at what greed will allow human beings to bestow upon others for their own gain). In the movie we get to know Maria, a young woman who is a 'mule' smuggling cocaine into NY from Colombia. While the movie is about drugs, it is more about survival!

It made me wonder how many young men and women are trying desperate things to find a better life en el Norte? Also, I found myself asking what can be done to be engaged in this reality as the church. http://www.mariafullofgrace.com/

The other movie that exposed the US public to our Latino experience was the romanic comedy, Spanglish. While it too was a tale of survival (a single mom works to take care of her only daughter) it was far too sweet, and although I love happy endings (I am an optimist by nature) I doubt too many domestic workers will fare as well as the main character in this movie (unless they look like Paz Vega).

Even so, like so many Latinos in the US dying to see someone that looks like them in movies and in the public eye (hopefully for good, positive things), I was glad that the story was told.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/spanglish/