Powerful story goes right for the tears in 'Under the Same Moon'

The determined face of 9-year-old Carlitos - who wants, more than anything else in the world, to be reunited with his mother - is enough to grab your heart in the very opening scenes of "Under the Same Moon." As played by the tough but ever-vulnerable Adrian Alonso, Carlito won't let go.

At the center of this film is the relationship of a mother and son. She crossed the United States border from Mexico, planning to make enough money to have him join her. Four years later she is sending him $300 a month but still is far short of the amount she needs to make the illegal move. His father had deserted them and lives in Tucson. She calls the boy every Sunday morning at 10 o'clock.

"He doesn't know why I left him," she says, "he only knows I left him." After his loving grandmother dies, he takes off on his own to try to reach her "before she forgets me."

An unbridled tearjerker, "Under the Same Moon" is too simplistic and too manipulative, but it is still irresistible. Directed by Patricia Riggen mostly in Spanish with English subtitles, it tackles yet another version of the American immigrant odyssey. Films like Elia Kazan's "America, America" (1963), "The Godfather" saga and especially "In America" (2002), with its Irish family, have done it before, but none of those films was released in a time that immigration policy is so politically explosive as it is today.

"Moon," of course, is best seen as a personal drama. It persuades us to pull with every fiber of our being for the reunion of these two. One doubts that even Lou Dobbs could resist, but one also wishes it weren't quite so simple on the political side of things. Established Americans are selfish snobs, while the Mexicans are all hard-working and able to have fun (complete with a rich soundtrack).

The mother's employer fires her and refuses to pay for three days work owed her. The California governor, with an unpronounceable name, is berated on the radio for vetoing a bill to allow illegal immigrants to drive. One of the characters says: "First they screwed the Indians, then they screwed the slaves and now they're screwing us Mexicans." Sure, America-bashing is much in style, but the fact remains that the characters in this film are willing to risk death to get here. Ligiah Villalobos' script should have avoided such convenient caricatures and stuck to its very personal story of the mother-son relationship.

Adrian, seen previously as the masked man's son in "The Legend of Zorro" (2005), is that rare child actor who never mugs. His face expresses all the determination of a child who is being forced to grow up before his time. No less effective is Kate del Castillo as his mother - a beautiful woman who decides to keep her ideals and forgo marrying a handsome Chicano just to get her green card. Their parallel stories are played out in alternating scenes that build in tension as the boy tries to cross the border and get from Texas to Los Angeles.

Like "Oliver Twist," which also had its share of social messages, he faces episodic setbacks. The car he's smuggled in is impounded. He picks tomatoes and works as a dishwasher for food. He is aided by Enrique, a Mexican on the run who initially dislikes him but eventually becomes his only friend - beautifully played by Eugenio Derbez.

Some overzealously moved critics have compared this film to "Cinema Paridiso" (1988). It is nowhere near that league. In fact, "El Norte," the 1983 film that was the first independent movie ever to be Oscar-nominated for its screenplay, was much more level-headed about its odyssey of Guatemalan immigrants through Mexico into the United States. But "Under the Same Moon" has more heart, and audiences will embrace it during its planned two-week run locally.

No matter what your political stance on the growing problem involving America's southern border, no human who sees this touching, if simplistic, movie will not be moved to root for Carlitos. He has the power, and the simplicity, of childhood on his side.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com