"Entre Nos" means "No Entry" in Spanish, and it's about a Colombian family trying to make their way in New York City. But it's not the familiar themes of alienation and immigration policy that are at the fore here, but a simple and powerful story of a mother trying to survive through abject poverty after her husband has abandoned them.
The fact that they are strangers in this land adds to the richness of the tale, but their foreignness is merely one of many obstacles before them.
If anything, the film most reminded me of "Angela's Ashes," Frank McCourt's searing tale of a family that sticks together through thick and thin -- emphasis on the thin.
It's even more amazing to think that "Entres Nos" is based on a true story. Paola Mendoza co-wrote and co-directed (along with Gloria La Morte) the film and stars as the mother of the struggling clan, which consists of 10-year-old son Gabriel (Sebastian Villada) and 6-year-old Andrea (Laura Montana). Paola was the little girl in her own real-life scenario, and in portraying her mother she gives the sort of tribute only a grateful child could.
Mariana (Mendoza) has just moved to New York with her children two weeks ago. They've got a small but tidy apartment, which includes a tiny kitchen in which she can make her specialty, empanadas (fried meat pies). But her husband suddenly announces he's found a new and better job in Miami, and will go there to set up house and send for his wife and children.
Of course, his call never comes. Unable to afford bus tickets to Florida, Mariana makes do by trying to sell empanadas on the street or catching day-labor jobs. But it's difficult with two children in tow, especially as a resentful Gabriel tests his mother's limits, and his own sense of independence.
Eventually they lose their apartment and are left to sleep on park benches or subway station staircases, with nothing to their name but the clothes on their backs. Mariana collects cans and bottles for the five cent deposit, but even a whole day of labor doesn't produce enough money for a cheap hotel room and a meager meal for the family.
The crushing weight of her responsibility weighs on Mariana, and in a brave performance that vibrates with truth, Mendoza seems to physically shrink under her burden. Both the child actors provide a range of emotions and complexity we don't expect from performers so young.
"Entre Nos" is at times hard to watch, but only because we feel so emphatically the daunting journey this extraordinary woman faces.
4.5 Yaps