The first impression - it reminds "Ladri di biciclette". the best thing - it is a hhonest, delicate, precise , touching film. the delicacy is its lead virtue. a well made story, admirable performances and one of films about simple things defining each of us. because it gives , in splendid manner, the portrait of relation between a father, his son and an option so moving. a film who must see . twice. for many motives. the first - Demian Bichir eyes. a film from the Russian tradition. about roots and meanings and one of the most profound forms of love. a film about the life. great ayt whole . scene by scene. short, an eulogy to fatherhood.

What a fantastic film. I heard about it briefly, but had no intention to watch it. But when Demian Bichir got nominated for Best Actor I decided to give it a go. And I'm really happy I did. Demian gives the most genuine, moving performance I've seen from an actor this year. While I had felt that Jean Dujardin was a lock for the Oscar (Clooney was a little over rated in The Descendants, I just didn't believe his character enough), after this I changed my mine. He should have won for this incredible performance.The story is pretty fairly straight forward. He's an illegal Immigrant from Mexico trying to make a better life for himself and his son. He has to work long hours as a gardener. Because he has to work so much, he has little time for his son and struggles to relate to him because of it. He also feels his son doesn't really understand or value his heritage and he wants to teach him this and how to be a good man. Given his predicament this is very hard, but he does what he can.There are some great moments in the film. For me the most moving of which is when his son decides to help him retrieve something that was stolen from them. They are just able to narrowly escape without harm and in that moment their first father/son moment is forged and they finally bond together. Bichir captured this so genuinely it had me fighting tears. It was a very subtle scene but it really hit me, seemingly out of nowhere.Now what I also loved about this was how relevant this film was with the immigration issue raging in the states. And the film wasn't too preachy. It just honestly presented what's happening. While he was clearly a good man, he was here and worked illegally. And while your heart broke for him at times, you had to remember that laws are laws and need to be upheld. While he was really was a good person, other immigrants had less honest intentions. So it's really a very complex, shades of grey type situation. The film didn't have an agenda and was just honest about it. And I loved it for that. At the end of the film I didn't find myself on either side of the debate. I just felt a sense of sorrow for so many people that you know are going through this. Can you judge each person on an individual basis? Can an illegal immigrant be judged based on their how they've lived their life once here? This is a complex situation and this film is an accurate representation of it. One of the best (and sadly unrecognized) films of 2011.http://andretms.blogspot.ca/@the_movie_snob

Halfway through this movie about a father and son struggling to make it in life, one is reminded of Bicycle Thief and The Pursuit of Happiness. The heart-wrenching tale about illegal immigrants also brought back memories of El Norte and parts of Babel. Oscar-nominated Demian Bichir is superb as the father who is prepared to do anything for his precious son, played by an equally impressive Jose Julian. The latter's character is at times rebellious and at times peevish, but he still comes through for his father when the situation calls for it. This is a wonderful two-character study that is as compelling as the two similar films mentioned earlier with it.

"A better life" depicts the life of many Hispanic immigrants who came to America hoping for opportunities to seek the American dream. The movie is about a father migrating to the United States seeking for better life for his family only to realized that it was tougher than he thought. Working as a gardener, he struggles to make enough to support the family. Aside from being financially unstable, he also struggles to spend time with his son. Easily influenced by gangs, drugs, and violence, he tries his best to prevent his son from going into that path. A well directed movie with superb acting, this movie deserves to be in the top 5 movies of the year. It is a heartfelt movie that will make the audience fall in love with the characters and the storyline. Overall 11/10 stars