Illegal immigrants fight tooth and nail to get to America and once they do it only gets harder as they try to create a home, pin down a steady but low-paying job, and try to fly below the radar of police or immigration affairs’ attention. The life is anything but easy and it’s only complicated by the inability to seek out help in official channels for fear that it could ultimately get them deported, and it results in a quiet desperation to find success any way possible and take joy in minor victories. Chris Weitz, director of films ranging from fantastical romance in the Twilight Saga’s New Moon to the grounded intimate drama About A Boy, paints a moving portrait in A Better Life of a father struggling to keep his head above the water in a soul-crushing system that won’t give him a break and the son who comes to understand the sacrifices made to give him a better life.
Doing the dangerous portion of the work for his friend’s landscaping company, Carlos (Demian Bichir) has managed to provide for him and his son reasonably well, though the long hours have estranged him from his son Luis (Jose Julian), who skips school and gets into fights when he does decide to show. Carlos’s livelihood is threatened when his friend decides to retire and announces he’ll be selling the truck and equipment unless Carlos buys it himself and carries on the business, an option he can’t afford. He turns to his sister for financial assistance, buys the truck and begins working with the help of a worker off the corner where the immigrants wait for employers to come by. His first day out, the truck is stolen and Carlos and Luis begin a frantic search through LA to retrieve their vehicle and their shot at the American dream.
The film’s strongest element is Demian Bichir’s performance which has the perfect mix of desperation and hope and makes A Better Life the terrific portrayal of the everyday dangers of living life in America as an illegal immigrant. Bichir brings the necessary complexity to his role as a father devoted to his rebellious son and the meager life they enjoy on the outskirts of the American dream. It’s an especially good turn for him considering the last American audiences saw of him was as the poorly written and conceived druglord in “Weeds”, with A Better Life he establishes himself as a remarkably capable actor. Without Bichir the film would seriously lack the same gravity that it achieved and there’s no question that Weitz deserves credit for coaxing another terrific, subtle performance from an underappreciated actor. Bichir steals the show but Jose Julian has a few moments to himself and does well, though at times he seems to go too far and stumbles into melodrama.
Weitz’s measured direction never makes A Better Life feel like a defense of illegal immigrants or like a victimization of their plight; the film spells out the fears they live with on a daily basis, whether it’s an empty bank account or the police asking for identification, without ever ascribing a moral judgment to their residence in the country. It falls back on familiar father-son tropes for much of the dramatic conflict but the nature of their predicament and how it plays out in their hour of need gives the film something special. A Better Life oozes with sincerity, partially from Bichir’s onscreen conviction in playing a man who believes, with all his heart, that hard work and sacrifice lead to success, and from Weitz who never lays on the political allegory no matter how tempting. Despite the influence immigration holds over the film, it’s little more than framework for the overarching story of a father and son reconnecting for the sake of their futures. Weitz sets the stage well and Bichir gives him more than he could have asked for.
A Better Life deserves to be seen both for its triumph as a well constructed drama and a strong character piece.
"A Better Life" opens June 24, 2011 and is rated PG13. Drama. Directed by Chris Weitz. Written by Eric Eason (screenplay), Roger L. Simon (story). Starring Demian Bichir, Jose Julian.
