Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this movie about a hardworking and loving Mexican-American family has a lot of adult material. Characters are partially nude in passionate love scenes, and there are several violent moments including a bloody shooting, a knife fight that ends in a fatality, and a graphic childbirth scene that ends in a mother's death, her body shown briefly in the morgue. There's a lot of cursing in both English and Spanish; one character drinks and another sells marijuana.
Families can talk about the role of immigrants in America and what it must be like to live in a whole different country. Also, families can discuss where their own ancestors are from and how long the family has been here. How does the family in the movie resemble your own? Does the film devote too much time to the characters of Chucho and Jimmy, perhaps perpetuating certain stereotypes?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Teresa Talerico
The sweeping saga MY FAMILY follows a Mexican-American family through three generations -- from the rural villages of Michoacan, Mexico, to the urban barrios of East Los Angeles. Welcoming viewers inside this tight-knit clan with a mixture of drama and humor, tragedy and romance, this movie explores the dynamics of Mexican-American families and culture in a way that's not often presented in mainstream cinema. Ultimately, however, it transcends its ethnicity and is simply a story about family.
Divided into three time periods, My Family begins in the 1930s. José Sanchez (Jacob Vargas) is walking from Michoacan to Los Angeles, where he has relatives. It takes him more than a year, but José arrives in California and lands a job as a gardener to wealthy families. He meets and marries Maria (Jennifer Lopez), and they have six children. They are separated early in the movie when a pregnant Maria is unjustly deported, and her perilous journey home with an infant son sets up a haunting, mystical thread that runs throughout the movie.
The film examines issues familiar to immigrants and their families. One recurring theme explores how José and Maria's first-generation children respond to the traditions, cultural values, and ideals of their parents. Paco (Edward James Olmos), the eldest son (and the film's narrator), is an aspiring writer. Irene marries and opens a restaurant with her husband. Toni (Constance Marie) becomes a nun, but later shocks her parents when she finds her true calling in life. Guillermo, or "Memo," becomes a lawyer. Although he's the pride of the family, he has drifted from his Mexican roots: He goes by William (the English version of his name) and seems embarrassed by his family when he visits them with his Anglo fiancée and her parents.
Two sons emerge as more flagrant rebels. In the 1958 segment, Chucho (Esai Morales) sells drugs and periodically fights with a rival gang leader. His parents fret over his behavior, but efforts to reach him are futile, particularly when Chucho becomes a fugitive after committing a serious crime.
Jimmy (Jimmy Smits) is the youngest of the family and the heart of the film. As an adult in 1978, he is an ex-con who follows in Chucho's footsteps and harbors a deep hurt over a tragedy he witnessed as a boy. His world changes when he is talked into marrying Isabel, a maid in danger of being deported back to El Salvador. Surprisingly, this "green card" marriage develops into a genuine love and produces a son. The couple's happiness, however, is short lived, and Jimmy must come to grips with his anger and fear and learn to be a father to his son.
Occasionally weighed down with melodrama, the film is nonetheless moving and well executed, with an epic, almost Godfatheresque feel. (Francis Ford Coppola had a hand in its production, and that influence shows, particularly in a wedding scene.) The eclectic soundtrack, which includes Mexican folk music, Los Lobos, and Pedro Infante, captures the film's spirit, and two key scenes use dancing to great effect: Chucho teaches a group of kids to mambo in a lively moment, and Isabel shows Jimmy how to dance in a scene that's unforgettable for its chemistry, its sheer joy, and the way Smits' character thaws before our eyes.
Characters speak both English and Spanish, with subtitles generally provided unless the context is obvious.
Families who enjoyed this movie might also like Real Women Have Curves, Stand and Deliver or El Norte.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentA husband and wife kiss passionately; they are then shown naked in bed; the wife's breast is briefly visible. A man and a woman make love in a field. They are clearly naked, although positioned strategically and shot from the waist up so that nothing is revealed. |
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ViolenceA character, on the run from police, is killed when officers shoot him in the head and the back. Two characters engage in a knife fight: one is fatally stabbed. Both of these scenes are fairly graphic and bloody. A woman threatens a man with a shotgun. Police strike a man with a nightstick. A few fights occur throughout the film. A graphic childbirth scene ends in a mother's death, her body shown briefly in the morgue. A mother makes a perilous journey across a river with her baby. |
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LanguageCharacters curse frequently in both languages, with the worst being "f--k you" in English and "f--k your mother" in Spanish. |
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Social BehaviorOverall, a story of a hardworking, loving, and idealistic family, although two members get involved in criminal activities, including one that serves time in prison for armed robbery. He redeems himself later in the film. There are also scenes of ethnic discrimination, as when authorities round up Mexicans (regardless of their citizenship), force them into trucks, and deport them as part of a Depression-era immigration sweep, or when a woman comments that Latina maids are "always getting pregnant." |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoA character admits that he sells marijuana. A character drinks an alcoholic beverage. Cigarette smoking shown. |
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