Under the Same Moon (Spanish: La misma luna) is a 2007 drama film directed by Patricia Riggen (in her feature film directorial debut), written by Ligiah Villalobos, and starring Kate del Castillo, Adrián Alonso, and Eugenio Derbez. The film follows nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. To give her son a better life, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while Carlitos stays in Mexico with his grandmother. When unforeseen events unfold, both Rosario and Carlitos undertake separate journeys, striving to reunite.
Under the Same Moon received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised the film's ability to humanize the U.S. immigration debate but noted that its sentimental approach softens the harsher realities of the issue. The film notably received a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival.
Plot
Rosario, a single mother, illegally crossed the US-Mexico border to Los Angeles, leaving behind her young son, Carlitos, in his Mexican hometown with his ailing grandmother. As a part of their weekly calls, Rosario describes the area around the payphone to Carlitos in detail. On his ninth birthday, after his grandmother unexpectedly dies in her sleep, Carlitos learns that his aunt and uncle are trying to take custody of him for his mother's remittances.
Determined to reunite with his mother, Carlitos pays coyotes to help him cross through El Paso–Juárez into Mexico. However, the coyotes' car is towed by police for unrelated offenses. Carlitos exits the vehicle in a lot in El Paso, Texas, unwittingly dropping his money. Unable to buy a bus ticket alone, Carlitos asks a man to buy him a ticket. Realizing he has lost his money, Carlitos offers the man $100 to drive him to the impound lot, but upon arriving, Carlitos can't find the money. In desperation, the man tries to sell Carlitos to a pimp, but a local woman intervenes, taking Carlitos in and introducing him to life with other undocumented immigrants. After a police raid on the place where he works, Carlitos escapes with Enrique, who initially wants nothing to do with him. The two hitchhike to Tucson, Arizona, where an angered Enrique tells Carlitos to leave. Seeing that some men are about to steal Carlitos' backpack, Enrique decides to save Carlitos. Carlitos manages to gain employment for both Enrique and himself at a restaurant. Carlitos looks up his absent father, Oscar Aguilar Pons, and with Enrique's help, they meet. Oscar promises to help but ultimately abandons Carlitos, leaving Carlitos disappointed. Enrique decides to take Carlitos to Los Angeles. The two take a bus ride and reach LA. Meanwhile, Rosario loses her job as a housekeeper due to immigration issues.
Following an address, Carlitos and Enrique arrive in East LA, only to find a PO box. Carlitos and Enrique decide to search the city for the payphone his mother calls from. After a day of unsuccessful searching, the two rest on a bench (while unknowingly walking right past her). Doña Carmen calls Rosario, letting her know that Carlitos crossed the border and that her mother is dead. Rosario marries a U.S. citizen for a green card, and she makes plans to go back to Mexico to search for Carlitos. When boarding the bus, she sees a little boy at a payphone out the window of the bus at the bus station, and she realizes that Carlitos does know where to find her. In the morning, Enrique and Carlitos get surprised by a pair of police officers, and Enrique, noticing that Carlitos is about to be apprehended, throws his coffee at the cops to distract them. Enrique shouts to Carlitos to run away, which he does, but Enrique is arrested.
Carlitos finally finds the payphone and Rosario. They see each other across the street. Rosario yells to her son not to cross yet. The crosswalk light turns from the "red hand" light to the “white figure walking" light, and the credits roll.
The film received generally favorable reviews from critics, getting a 73% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "If Under the Same Moon is often manipulative, it is also heartfelt, and features strong performances from its leads."[2] On Metacritic, 24 critics gave the film 59/100, meaning "mixed or average" reviews.[3]
Critics have called it a “warm drama that humanizes America's current illegal immigration debate even as it sentimentally stacks the deck in favor of the undocumented”.[4] Some critics have said the film relies heavily on sentiment, and therefore it “blunts the hard edges of immigration with a thick coating of preciousness”.[5] Notably, the film received a standing ovation at Sundance.[4]
