Excellent movie, tear jerker, loving and motivating. I would recommend LA Mission for young and old, white or black or brown !!! Benjamin Bratt's performaance moved me... We live and we learn! It ecouraged me to look beyond my personal views and opinions, and say to myself, I can be/do better in life than I have thus far.. This is truly a love story, love for humanity! love for life, and love for yourself. How is it that it has taken me 3-4 years to see this movie, maybe there wasn't enough t&a or blood, for it to get the credit it desererved. This is the kind of story that means something, that shows us we can make a change in our lives for the good, and at the same time enhance someone else's life.

It was fun to see a movie set in San Francisco with places I've been to in the background. Most of the time I forgot I was watching actors in a movie. When that happens I know I'm watching a good show with solid acting and direction. I felt anxiety, fear, and foreboding during much of the movie and that was authentic too. I've been in the Mission lots of times but I'm not Hispanic, didn't grow up there, and usually feel some degree of anxiety and sense of danger when I am there.The thunder during Che's cathartic moment seemed a bit phony since that only happens once in a great while in San Francisco and all of the Bay Area.I was wondering how Che was going to fuel his Biodiesel '64 Chevy during the trip to LA. Maybe it could run on regular diesel fuel?I saw it on DVD and was disappointed that the only special feature was the music soundtrack. I would love to see interviews and some behind the scenes footage.

This underrated movie provides an insider's view of the colorful San Francisco's neighborhood known as the "Mission" - a predominantly Latino enclave in San Francisco. Inspired by real characters, it does not present the usual clichés of the ethnic minority drama by avoiding the romanticizing of this environment; it skews the typical down home ethnic wisdom favored by liberal Hollywood and does not become another histrionic sordid ghetto thriller/soap opera.Supported by an excellent cast, Benjamin Bratt gives an astonishing performance as an intolerant bus driver, a single father who cannot accept his adolescent only son's homosexuality despite the love and pride he feels for him. The violent machismo that have shaped his life is perpetuated by the next generation of disenfranchised youth who prey La Mission.The neighborhood is presented as an insular world almost anachronistic in 21st century San Francisco. Working class middle age men turn old cars into souped-up low-riding monsters and make fun of soy lattes and recycling, feathered Aztec dancers fill the streets with color and sound as neighbors try to maintain a sense of heritage with their indigenous past, families place flowers and pray where their children have been slain.The movie transcends its family drama genre allowing the story to evolve at its own pace with a feeling of authenticity and honesty prevailing in every scene. Without providing easy solutions, it centers on a character whose contradictions reflect the world he inhabits. Highly recommended.

Caught this flick with a choice of almost any seat. Weird because the theater is known for showing real life, low budget, "art" and eclectic films so I expected it to be well attended at the 2:10 showing. Someone judged that the religious elements in the movie were a distraction. I don't get the same read. They seemed to fit in culturally quite well. In fact I judge there was an intent to show a paradox between passion for worship / faith reverence and passionate violence. The central theme is the breakdown between single parent father and gay son. It left room for some play around other compelling life issues. If you are shy about the subject of gay men, go see Oceans. Two hours is too long for this movie (requisite love scene was useless), but the length did not detract from the story. The ending ... go see the movie.