Entre Nos

In the film Entre Nos we see the strength of a young mother as she is suddenly and unexpectantly forced to become a single mother. When Mariana's husband Antonio decides to abandon his wife and two beautiful children we see Mariana develop a strength that enables her to survive. Survival seems to be the key in this film. The first instinct that she has is to raise money to get to Miami to be with her husband. Upon learning that the fare for the trip is so costly she seems to forgo this idea and settles on caring and supporting her children. My impression of Mariana is that she is very smart and observant. She watches how people survive in busy New York City. She watches as Mr. Joe collects cans and bottles to make money. Then teaches her children to do the same. This resourceful way of getting money seems to pull her little family together as they work so hard in the summer heat to survive. Mariana is very conscientious of how her children see her. She seemed so saddened in the scene when she lies to her daughter about playing hide-n-seak. She is forced to lie to her so she can escape the house to try to go out and make money. We also see a change in Mariana's attitude when her daughter accuses her of not being funny anymore. As she is sitting in the window sill with Andrea contemplating her life, she is struck by the comment from her daughter. It appears that after that scene she starts playing and laughing with her children more. Almost as if she tells herself that she is going to make the best of the situation that she is in. We see the son, Gabi become very hardworking and helpful when he gets up early and goes out on his own to collect cans. He is learning that unfortunately he must become the "man" of the family.
We see the family learn to survive through this horrible summer of their lives. Even though the father has totally devastated their lives, they show an outstanding amount of courage and strength. These situations do happen often in America but legal citizens have government agencies that they can seek for help. Several times during the film I felt saddened by the plight of the family. If they only could have sought the help of a food kitchen or homeless shelter it could have been a little easier on them. Perhaps it was the fear of being illegal that prevented her from seeking help for her family from any organized institutions. It was encouraging though to see her not only survive, but secure shelter, food,employment and even an education for her son. What as inspiring family! Becky Bittinger