The cinematic rhetoric of Under the Same Moon establishes a moral order which states that even though life-struggles cause separation, positive human qualities help overcome it. In the case of this particular film, love is the positive human quality that brings together characters suffering from separation due to economic struggles. Even though this theme is presented throughout almost the entire film, for the sake of clarity, focus will be drawn to a few specific scenes which are they key points that communicate the theme. Other content either serves to create a clear flow for the story or it enriches the theme, but it will be unnecessary or redundant.
As previously stated, the film presents the theme of overcoming separation through love and sacrifice. Under the Same Moon tells the story of Rosario (Kate del Castillo) a mother who illegally immigrated to the United States and her son Carlitos (Adrian Alonso) whom she left back in a Mexican village under the care of his grandmother. Living in Los Angeles, California, Rosario calls her son every Sunday to keep in contact with her son who pressures her to come back to Mexico or have him taken to her in the U.S. When Carlitos’ grandmother dies, he embarks on a journey to reunite with his mother. He gets help in crossing the border from two Hispanic U.S. citizens who are in need of the money. They become separated and Carlitos continues his journey with the help of fellow Hispanic immigrants. After a close encounter with immigration officials he pairs up with another illegal immigrant Enrique (Eugenio Derbez) who initially refuses to help him. Eventually a bond develops between the two and Enrique accompanies and helps Carlitos as they travel to Los Angeles. While sleeping in a park bench after a day-long search for Rosario, Carlitos is approached by police officers who see him alone since Enrique left him there. As they begin to take the boy, Enrique reappears and subsequently saves Carlitos from the officers by getting himself caught instead. Carlitos runs away and stops in the area which Rosario would describe in her phone conversations with his son. He finds his mother waiting for him and the two are reunited.
According to an interview with the film’s writer Ligiah Villalobos, the script had been written several years ago after she was approached by someone who wanted to make a film focusing on the hardship a child would go through in crossing the border illegally. Ligiah thought this story had been done before by the film El Norte (1983) and believed it had done such a good job, she did not want to attempt making something similar. Instead she wanted to write a story about the displacement of children as a result of parents having to work in a different country. She wanted to explore the issue of abandonment in children since it was something that she experienced as a child. She did not cross the border illegally, and her mother didn’t work in the United States as a nanny or cleaning lady similar to the lead in her story. Instead she dealt with abandonment throughout her entire childhood as a result of her parents’ divorce, having been bounced back and forth between one parent and the other. As a result, the story for Under the Same Moon was actually born out of her own childhood experiences and it is disguised in the topic of illegal immigration. The combination of abandonment and illegal immigration made perfect sense to her since many children deal with it as many parents leave to work in the United States.
The film begins with a scene of people crossing a river and it is shot hand-held, from the perspective of a person that is also crossing the river, right next to the two women. This style of shooting makes the scene look as realistic as possible and it helps the spectator feel emotions similar to those present when in such a situation. By closing in on the two women, the spectator is knows that they are the main focus of the film. People reach the river bank and as they climb out of the water, one of the women cuts her arm. As more people get out the border patrol shows up, pointing flashlights and taking the people they’ve found. Realizing this, the women move farther from the group and they hide in some bushes. The need for separation is shown this early in the film, but it is so subtle it is unnoticeable. Suddenly the scene at the river cuts to a woman opening her eyes while she’s in bed. The shot is framed close to her face and shows that she is one of the women that the previous scene focused on. The audience realizes that what they were shown was a dream of a past event in her life. She looks off the screen and asks an unseen person if they are awake already. It then cuts to a clock on a night table as its alarm goes off. A small hand reaches to turn it off then taps a lamp to turn it on and then a boy is shown turning in bed and rubbing his eyes as he awakes. The audience assumes he is the one to whom the woman was speaking, most likely a mother and son as this is a typical situation between mothers and their children. The boy then turns to his side and grabs some tennis shoes. He taps them and red lights flicker from the heel section of the shoe. It is obvious that he really likes the shoes since he basically sleeps with them. As he gets out of bed, another person is seen sleeping in a separate bed close to his. The scene then cuts to the woman making her bed and pictures can be seen hanging on the wall next to her bed. The shot cuts to a close up of these pictures and we see the woman with a baby, a young boy sitting next to an elderly lady, and the woman with three other women in work uniforms. It cuts away to a shot farther away, looking at the woman from the side on the background. On the foreground of that shot are some dresses that look like those used for a prom or a Sweet Sixteen; one of them is on a manikin, suggesting that she sows dresses probably as a side job. As she finishes with the bed, she turns to look in the mirror and the camera closes up on her reflection. She runs her hands through her hair and a scar is shown on her arm, she pauses and runs her finger through her scarred arm. This shows that time has passed since the river-crossing event. The shot then cuts to the boy’s reflection on water, he then dips his hand in the water, distorting the reflection and splashes some water on his face. Then from a long shot, he dips a bowl into the water and pours it on himself. Apparently it’s how he showers, and this leads the spectator to believe that he lives in a poor household. The image then cuts to the mom putting a jalapeño on a pop tart and takes a bite out of it. She puts it down and then grabs a pot and places it on the stovetop. As this happens it cuts to a close up of the pot, looking inside and showing milk. A hand drops in a dark tablet and then with a wooden whisk crushes the tablet. As this happens the camera moves upward to reveal the boy, already dressed, doing this. It is at this moment that the audience begins to realize that these two characters are not in the same location. The intercutting between these two characters suggests that all this is occurring at the same time, and since no two shots include both of these characters even in the kitchen where both are doing the same thing, they cannot be together. Another subtle hint of separation is given. After the boy is seen preparing the hot chocolate, it cuts to a night stand filled with various medications. A tray with food and a glass of hot chocolate is placed on the night stand, knocking down some of the bottles of medicine, and coughing is heard. As the view on the nightstand lifts upwards, a body is seen lying in a bed on the background moving under the bed sheets and then turning. It is the elderly lady from the picture shown on the mom’s wall. The boy sits beside the lady and she says, “What would I do without my boy,” and the boy kisses her on the forehead. With this the audience understands that this boy is going through unique circumstances. Not only is he apart from his mother but he takes care of the sick old lady, who is most likely his grandmother, instead of her taking care of boy. This also reflects the boy’s level of maturity and his development, sure he’s a young boy, but he’s already taking on responsibilities and most likely by his own initiative. This will be an influential factor in his and his mother’s future actions and motivations. This informative shot then cuts to a calendar with every Sunday marked with “Carlitos” and one Sunday, which the mom is circling, has an additional “Cumple” with a smiley face. Cumple is short for birthday, so not only is there a significant event every Sunday involving her son, now discovered to be named Carlitos, but in the film it is presently his birthday as well. It then cuts to another calendar but in this one it has “Mami,” or Mom, and a drawing of a phone. Like the mom, Carlitos marks the day with a big “X” confirming again that the events are occurring relatively at the same time. However, on his calendar there is nothing to signify his birthday, suggesting he’s not concerned about it but is instead more preoccupied with his mom. The scene then changes to intercutting between his mom and Carlitos both exciting their respective buildings and walking down their respective streets. Based on the surroundings, the road signs in English, and the city skyline in the background, the mom is revealed to live in the suburbs of a large city somewhere in the United States. Carlitos on the other hand is surrounded by multiple food vendors, men pulling large carts on bicycles, locales with names in Spanish, and people with dark hair and tanned-skin complexions, suggesting he is in a small town somewhere in Mexico. There are only about two lines of dialogue in this five-minute sequence, and yet from this the spectator is visually exposed to the situation of Carlitos and his mom; that they are separated and have been so for a long time.
The sequence is later followed by a phone conversation between Carlitos and his mom, both via a payphone. This exchange between the characters simply reiterates what has been shown and gives a few more details of their situation, the most important being that they’ve been apart for four years, and the mother is attempting to have him brought over in a safe and legal manner, but she’s encountered difficulties in achieving this since it is difficult for her become legal and an attempt failed due to a cheating lawyer. Another important detail given through this dialogue is a hint of resentment from Carlitos towards his mom for being away for so long. This resentment gives his mom a feel of urgency to reunite with her son since he is apparently growing up with anger and resentment towards her for leaving him. These weekly phone calls are the only connection he has with her. Finally, a key detail that will allow Carlitos to achieve his future goal is shown in this conversation as well. He always asks her to describe her surroundings, even though he’s already heard it various times. As the mother describes her location in detail, the spectator sees Carlitos opening his eyes and being where his mother is. The camera turns around him, showing the audience the locales that the mom is describing, specifically a Laundromat, a pizza place, a mural, a party supply store, and a bus stop.
The following scenes shed light on Carlitos’ fears and concerns and they are important for character development, specifically Carlitos’. It is revealed to him by his newly discovered biological paternal uncle that his father is working in the United States just like his mom. The uncle introduces the idea to Carlitos that he and his wife would be the best ones to look after him since his maternal grandmother is very sick. Shaky camera work, tight framing of the characters, and low camera angles from Carlitos’ perspective create tension during this interchange, suggesting to the audience that this is a highly undesirable alternative. The grandmother later comes to his aid and has Carlitos return to his party to break the piñata, but his expression remains worrisome as he joins the party. The following shots are intercut between the grandmother arguing with the uncle and Carlitos hitting the piñata. She suspects that they’re only interested in the money that Carlitos’ mother sends every month since the uncle and his family neglected Carlitos being his brother’s son when he was born. They don’t care for the boy; they’re only after personal gain. An interesting thing about this event; it is customary for children at birthday parties to take turns hitting the piñata, usually limiting each turn to three hits or swings, yet Carlitos continues to hit it throughout the grandmother’s exchange with the uncle until the piñata breaks and all the candy spills out. When it does, all the children run for the candy as it falls, but Carlitos simply removes the blindfold and looks towards his grandmother, who has by now dismissed the uncle, with a concerned look. This suggests that Carlitos is unable to be content with what he has due to the pain and suffering caused by his separation from not only his mother, but his father as well. The piñata served as an outlet for his anger and pain, but it can only help so much since it’ll eventually break. Similarly with his current situation, it can only last so long before something drastic occurs. In a way it foreshadows future events. In a later conversation with his grandma, he asks questions which reflect his anger and fears, “Why didn’t you tell me about my dad?” When the grandma tells Carlitos that his mom was going to tell him, the anger begins to shift to fear. “[Is it true] that mom won’t be back any time soon?” It is a difficult question to answer since it’s most likely true but for reasons unclear to him. She doesn’t answer and he continues, “Is she coming back or not?” He sobs as he says this and in turn the grandma puts her hand on his and tells him not to cry because he is a Reyes and the Reyes are strong. This slightly comforts Carlitos as then tells her not to let the uncle take him away to which she responds by hugging him and saying, “I’d kill them first.” As the conversation began, the framing was a medium shot, both on each side of the frame, as the conversation progressed, the framing got closer and closer until both are hugging. His fear and resentment throughout the party scene and this conversation caused emotional distance, but the grandmother’s care and reassurances of love reunited them.
The next scenes serve to show the mother’s grueling life working in the United States and being an illegal. The audience sees how she and her friend, who is the same one she crossed the river with, awaken before sunrise (specifically at 4:30AM), take multiple busses across the city and arrive at their job locations once the sun is high in the sky. In between, the audience learns that marriage to a legal resident of the United States would be the easy way to legality, but for a traditional person like her, it is not an option. As they take the bus, a radio show host comments on current politics, specifically a bill vetoed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that would allow over two and a half million of “undocumented” to drive freely. Some further and rather comical commentary reflects some reasoning of many illegal immigrants, “What’s it to him? He’s an immigrant who came here from farther away than we did!” All this helps to show what the mother has had to endure for the time she’s lived there.
Unfortunately, one of Carlitos’ fears becomes true when his grandmother dies in her sleep. It is after that moment that he decides to go to his mom. He finds a way to with help from two legal citizens who’d do it for money and have a hidden space under their car seat, but when doing so the car is taken for unpaid parking tickets. The two legal citizens wouldn’t sacrifice themselves by telling the authorities about the boy in order to get him out. His life is put in danger as he is left in the car under an immense heat. Again he has been abandoned.
Fortunately he emerges from the car once night settles in. After being saved from a dangerous situation by a Reina, a Hispanic woman, he joins her friend Leonardo as he travels west to the fields for work, eventually reaching Los Angeles. He meets a rather grumpy and distasteful character named Enrique who appears to dislike Carlitos, or at least the presence of a child. As they’re picking tomatoes in a greenhouse, a raid occurs and he is again abandoned, this time by Leonardo as he escapes capture. Carlitos and Enrique successfully hide from the agents, but Carlitos is now left only with a man who dislikes him and only wants to get rid of him. Nonetheless, Carlitos follows him and as they hitchhike, Carlitos eventually attracts a ride. After being dropped off in a town, they begin to part ways due to Enrique’s refusal to remain with the boy. However, when some street thugs pose a threat to Carlitos, Enrique steps in and remains with him. Both get hired at a roadside diner. Since they are both getting hired for the pay of one person, Enrique initially refuses to share his pay, but when the owner reveals that Carlitos is the one that got the job and the one that is sharing the pay, he concedes. The boy later tells Enrique that his father lives in a nearby town, and Enrique suggests he look up and find his father, which he does. His father Oscar agrees to take him to L.A., but does not show up when it is time to go. In a fit of anger, Carlitos exclaims, “Why don’t my parents want to be with me?” and tells Enrique to take him to a police station. Instead he consoles the boy and as the shot shows Carlitos hugging him, it cuts to both riding a bus marked with L.A. From this the spectator understands that Enrique has decided to help the boy and is sacrificing his time and money in order to do so. By now the film’s moral order is becoming clearer and clearer as Enrique’s sympathy towards the boy’s suffering brings them together in Carlitos’ quest to reunite with his mom.
In the bus, Enrique realizes Carlitos is filled with anger and explains to him that if his mom didn’t love him, she wouldn’t be working hard in the U.S. and going through similar events which he’s experienced so far. They eventually arrive to the address which Carlitos had with him, only to find that it is a P.O. Box. After an unsuccessful day of looking for a location with all the locales that his mother would describe in their phone conversations, they rest for the night on a park bench. There Carlitos reveals that when he began his journey, he though his mom did not love him anymore, but that now he believed otherwise. This scene begins a long shot of both on the bench; Enrique sitting on one end and Carlitos lying down on the other using his jacket as a pillow. It then becomes a close up as Carlitos thanks Enrique for everything and gifts him a small toy. When he doubts that they’ll find his mom, the camera focuses on Carlitos’ hand as he takes Enrique’s. In turn, Enrique shakes the boy’s hand with reassurance that they will, “I didn’t come all this way to give up now,” and that they’ll start searching again before dawn. This small and almost insignificant sequence suggests that Enrique is now a driving force in Carlitos’ quest. All of the boy’s recent past experiences have discouraged him, but Enrique’s have changed and motivated him to do something completely different from what he’d normally do.
The next day, Enrique wakes up to sunlight on his face. It is shown with a close up of the two as they lie close to each other. The camera begins to pull away, Enrique sits up, rearranges Carlitos’ jacket to cover him, then gets up and begins to leave. The camera follows Enrique with a medium hot, cuts to a close up of Carlitos who remains asleep, then cuts back to Enrique but this time in a long shot and showing his back while he walks opposite from the bench’s direction. This makes the audience wonder whether Enrique was honest in his conversation with Carlitos the previous night. It seems Carlitos is to be abandoned once again. It becomes more alarming as Enrique walks farther away and a police car shows up in the frame’s foreground moving at slow speed then turning towards the bench after the cops see Carlitos sleeping on it. This cuts to a close up of Carlitos asleep on the bench and the police car moving slowly into the background of the frame. In this shot, the police car appears to be an ominous threat to Carlitos as it “creeps” up on him. This shows that for Carlitos, cops do not represent service and protection, but they’re an obstacle to his goal. The image changes to a long shot as the cops emerge from their vehicle and awaken Carlitos, upon seeing them and realizing who they are, the framing tightens on Carlitos and the fearful expression on his face. Upon seeing this, one of the officers tells him to accompany them and begins to take him until Carlitos looks towards the distance and says that he is there with a friend. It cuts to a medium shot of Enrique in the distance returning with two cups and two paper bags. At first he walked at a normal pace, but upon raising his head and seeing the officers at the bench, he slows down and starts moving sideways suggesting evasion. The shot returns to the three at the bench as the officers ask Carlitos if Enrique is his friend. The image tightens on Carlitos’ expression of concern then cuts to Enrique who is moving more sideways and attempting to look away, suggesting he has nothing to do with the boy. The audience knows Enrique’s denial is for fear of being caught by the police. To him they also represent and obstacle and are to be avoided. This cuts again to Carlitos’ face this time having an expression of sadness. He looks downward and shakes his head in the negative as he realizes that he’s to be abandoned again. He’s been abandoned before by people closer to him, why wouldn’t Enrique do the same? Seeing this, Enrique continues walking sideways and diverts his gaze from the bench. The image then shows a long shot of the police and when they start taking Carlitos it changes to a close up of the boy struggling against the cops. This intercuts with a close up of Enrique slowing down to a halt but still looking downward, suggesting uncertainty. He then lifts his head with resolution and turns back. Carlitos is being taken into the car when Enrique yells at them to leave him alone. The police continue and Enrique throws one of the cups towards the officers, spilling coffee all over them. The police begin to chase him, and a medium shot shows Carlitos exiting the car and with an expression of fear and surprise looks towards the chase. A long shot shows Enrique running from the cops as he yells for Carlitos to run away. With what appears to be unbelief and fear, Carlitos barely moves until Enrique drops to the ground and then looks toward the boy while he is being handcuffed. Enrique’s gaze restates his prior cry for Carlitos to leave or he’ll suffer similar circumstances. Carlitos begins to run away but then stops and turns back. He is about to do to Enrique what everyone else has done to the boy and abandon him. A close up of Enrique shows him nodding and even smiling at the boy, reassuring Carlitos that it’s what he should do. After this, Carlitos resumes running away and Enrique is shown being put into the police vehicle with tears and a smile on his face. In the car he turns back towards Carlitos’ direction, suggesting that he’s not concerned with his own capture, but hopeful that Carlitos will find his mother. Being an illegal immigrant, Enrique has obviously had his share of problems and obstacles. With this scene the spectator is shown that amidst all that, Enrique has developed an emotional bond with Carlitos deep enough that he’d give himself up for the boy.
Throughout the film, the audience sees how the corrupting influences of poverty causes Carlitos to be constantly abandoned. The mother’s actions and motivations are reflected when she tells her friend she’s returning to Mexico and her reasons for doing so, “You know I’m here because I love him, but that’s what I’m sacrificing if I stay. I finally got it.” Initially Carlitos was unaware that she was there for him, but with his journey and his experiences, he comes to realize that his physical well being is the reason for her abandonment. The film shows how social circumstances push the characters to fight for their physical well being, and this causes both physical and possibly emotional separation. However some characters’ actions throughout the film such as Reina’s rescue and Enrique’s sacrifice are guided by positive human qualities such as charity and love. These counteract personal and social struggles and they eventually create physical and emotional unity.
