El Norte Review

El Norte is a moving movie about a brother and sister's struggle to leave Guatemala and go to the United States.

Crossing the border proved to be the easiest task for them. First, I will talk about Enrique and Rosa, the main characters who try desperately to live in America illegally. I will also talk about the symbolism used to help the movie flow. Finally, I will tell one what I have learned as a result of watching El Norte.

To start, Enrique and Rosa are brother and sister and when their parents are taken away from them, they decide to leave everything behind and go north to the United States. Once in the United States, they are suffering rat bites and now need to find a job to earn money to pay rent and to buy clothes so they fit in. The only concern they have now is immigration. Enrique finds work easy as he learns more and more English. He gets promoted and loves living in America. Rosa on the other hand has problems adapting and I feel she does not know as much English as she should to be able to work well in America. Both Enrique and Rosa manage to escape immigration trying to catch them at their works.

Symbolism is key to writing a good book or directing a good movie. In this movie, a mountain goat was symbolic of Enrique showing up on the mountain where his sister was. First, the mountain goat was there and it startled Rosa then she got distracted and when she turned to face the goat again, it was Enrique. Butterflies in this movie were symbolic of their mother's spirit. When Rosa went home to see her mother, the only thing she could find was her mother's jewelry and a bunch of butterflies. Without symbolism, this movie would not have as much emphasis. After Rosa dies, all of this symbolism forms in Enrique's thoughts, which to me represents his family being in his heart.

Finally, El Norte has a strong meaning behind it. From watching the movie, I have learned that life in the United Stats could be harder for illegal immigrants than back where they used to live. Always being afraid of immigration, needing money for food, rent, and clothes to fit in is hard to do in life. Back in Guatemala, all Rosa and Enrique had to worry about was poverty. It took Rosa getting sick and dying for Enrique to realize that life back at home was better than life in the United States.

In conclusion, El Norte, a movie of a brother sister duo who escape from Guatemala to live in America, shows how hard it actually is for illegal immigrants to live there. The main characters, Enrique and Rosa, face these struggles and show how they handle it. The symbolism in this movie all comes together at the end of the movie to show Enrique's feelings of his family. After speaking of what I have learned of watching this movie, I hope one feels the same way I feel and gain an appreciation of how hard an immigrant's life can be living in the United States.