'A Better Life': A Textbook Example In Good Storytelling

The movie A Better Life, which earned lead actor Demián Bichir a well-deserved Oscar nomination in 2012, is one of the most powerful, moving dramas I've seen in a very long time.

A Better Life does everything that screenplay and novel-writing how-to guides recommend to tell a good story: it builds slowly and pulls the viewer in, with edge-of-your seat conflict in nearly every moment of every scene. A Better Life has it all – drama, mystery, suspense, and heartfelt moments that genuinely tug at your emotions.  

At first, I thought A Better Life was basically a Latino version of Boyz ‘N the Hood. There are some similarities between A Better Life and Boyz ‘N the Hood. Both portray nurturing, stable relationships between a father and son who are trying to navigate life in crime-ridden, inner-city Los Angeles.

 

 

Watch the trailer for A Better Life by clicking this link: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkSTjUUQDHY

 

 

A Better Life is almost biblical in scope, portraying the “promised land” of America and the struggles and sacrifices that the pilgrims who are trying to get to the promised land endure.

At the center of the story is the relationship between Carlos (Bichir), an earnest, hard-working undocumented Mexican immigrant who toils as a day laborer and his teenage son, Luis. The son is played by first-time actor José Julián, who turns in a realistic, understated performance that earned him a Young Artist Award nomination from the nonprofit Young Artists Association.

At first, there’s a major generational and cultural gap between the more traditional Carlos and the Americanized Luis. But father and son draw closer and band together when tragedy strikes. In a scene toward the end of the movie, Bichir proves why he earned the Oscar nomination during a tear-jerking speech in which he movingly answers a question his son asks earlier in the movie: why he had him, and why poor people, in general, have children.

A Better Life shines a light on so many issues that continue to affect this country: the fact that many undocumented immigrants are honest people who just want a better life (as the title indicates) for their children. Out of desperation, undocumented immigrants sometimes resort to difficult choices that can have devastating consequences. The movie raises many complex questions and doesn’t offer easy answers, just shows everyday people and the dilemmas they face.

The movie also portrays how the children of immigrants often lose touch with their roots, refusing to speak their parents’ native language and becoming almost completely Americanized.

It’s amazing that A Better Life so accurately captures the immigrant experience, but was not directed by an immigrant. The movie was capably and conscientiously directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy), a white American. (Indie movie buffs may remember Weitz, who started out as an actor, from his role in the cult comedy Chuck and Buck.)

In the DVD commentary in one of the deleted scenes, Weitz offers a profound comment on race relations: “People are just people,” he says. “There is a world in which white folks and Latinos and African Americans understand each other, live with each other, eat with each other…”