Immigrants’ Urban Life in “Entre Nos” Film

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Table of Contents

No consensus as far as culture is concerned
Close friendship
Survival through friendship
Interpersonal relationship
Dense urban neighborhood
Succeeding in novel urban environment
Works Cited

Entre Nos is a drama film that was exceptionally famous in 2009. The film stars Paola Mendoza. It is basically an exploration of Mariana’s life. The Columbian immigrant is trying to cope with the street life in New York. Mariana has two children; Gabriel (ten years) and Andrea (six years). She moved to New York City with the intention of reuniting with her husband. After realizing that her husband would never come back home, Mariana decides to engage in odd chores so as to offer her children a decent life. There are numerous positive reviews linked with the film, which has won immense awards. This essay is founded on a true story and analyses how novel immigrants are able to live in a new environment and particularly, an urban place. This entails the politics, culture, and language considering that the people come from different backgrounds.

No consensus as far as culture is concerned

Mariana experiences culture shock in the streets of Queens as she tries to earn a decent living. After the business of selling homemade empanadas ends up unsuccessful, the three family members begin gathering aluminum cans. Consequently, the life becomes too complicated and the daily life struggles begin.

People lack understanding as far as culture is concerned. This is in regard to the growth, evolution, and advancement in the cities, the neighborhood concept, people-orientation, and density. In cities, there is increased pressure as a result of the escalated demand for housing, overpopulation, economic and social stress, and congested physical facilities.

Close friendship

In the center of all the anxiety and confusion, people value close friendship as the social fabric that binds them together. People find it difficult to survive in the demanding urban environment and seek close friendships that lighten their moments. There is a need for the city dwellers to focus more on networking (Sternlieb and Hughes 56). This is attributable to the fact that a majority of the employment emerges from the private sector. Actually, the private sector employs six times more compared to the government. Therefore, a person is more likely to get employment depending on who he knows in the city and the level of his networking.

It is worth pointing out that not all people moving to cities possess the necessary skills to carry out odd jobs. Therefore, the newcomers who lack these skills conclude that cities are inhospitable (Mast, Cohen and Braudy 92). In the film, Mariana’s life becomes unbearable and she has to struggle with odd jobs since she lacks formal training.

Survival through friendship

New visitors in the city are hardly known by anyone and this is the reason why Mariana ends up doing odd jobs since she knows no one who can assist her. However, the formation of closely knit friendships ensures that people are able to survive. People find consolation in each other and are able to assist each other. More particularly, graduates move to cities to find employment after their education and starting life in the city is usually not easy. Therefore, a group of three to five graduates may agree to live together in a single room and share the costs. The friendship they share makes survival in the city possible.

Interpersonal relationship

Irrespective of the fact that interpersonal relationships are usually complicated, it is a great source of comfort for all the people residing in urban places. In addition, some policemen are engaged in investigating murders. Instead of adhering to justice, they follow their cunning ways (Galperin 87).

Hence, some people residing in cities carry out straightforward activities. However, they may find themselves in the webs of crimes such as corruption and murder. This results from the cunning ways of life of some people, which they draw others to follow. Therefore, people ought to be careful about the group of people they engage with in cities since they may eventually end up in mess.

Dense urban neighborhood

Basically, urban places are notorious for their huge populations. People in cities come from different backgrounds, cultures, and have different educational levels. Moreover, a majority of the people are in search of the daily bread. As such, people participate in a wide array of activities to seek money. Some even engage in crimes such as robbery with violence, immorality, kidnapping, stealing, and money laundering as quick ways to become rich.

Succeeding in novel urban environment

As stated earlier, people engage in a wide array of activities so as to make money. People devise ways to ensure survival and success in the novel environment. It is as a result of this that people view housing in urban areas as a means of investment. The rich construct houses and rent them to those who are unable to build their own. The poor people can be identified by the fact that they rent cheap houses. On the other hand, the rich people possess their own residences in affluent estates. Mostly, the poor are victimized whereby they have to face various forms of taxes as opposed to the rich. In addition, the poor encounter challenges as they try to cope with the costs of education, health, food, clothing, and upkeep. It is on this basis that the rich victimize the poor since they make money out of their misfortunes (Elsaesser and Buckland 22). In short, the rich invest their money on the poor through construction of health clinics, education centers, shops and shopping malls, and recreation centers. On the other hand, the poor engage in activities such as construction jobs, cobblers, and selling vegetables. Others engage in crime such as theft so as to acquire money for surviving in the city.

It is worth noting that there is a lot of segregation in cities based on the level of education, ethnicity, sex, religion. More particularly, the whites have a higher likelihood of being employed in white collar jobs as opposed to the blacks. Furthermore, women cannot be employed as constructors and welders, which leave this preference for men only. However, some sectors face low labor force irrespective of the fact that the levels of unemployment are breathtaking.

From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that the film Entre nos is a reflection of the present day life in cities. Some of the main characters are set in traps that are difficult to refrain from (Mariana’s husband left the family intentionally without them knowing). The story is a depiction of family love that is a real portrayal of family togetherness and love. Mariana shows a strong willingness to keep the family united. On the same note, people rely on firm friendships to ensure survival in cities. Some of the crimes in cities are as a result of the challenging life that people experience. Therefore, it is imperative for an individual to be cautious of the people he interacts with.

Works Cited

Elsaesser, Tony, and Wesley Buckland. Studying contemporary American film: a guide to movie analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA, 2002. Print.

Galperin, Wendon. ” Bad for the Glass: Representation and Filmic Deconstruction in Entres nos. ”MLN102. 5 (1987): 1151-1170. Print.

Mast, Gel, Mandley Cohen, and Laurence Braudy. Film theory and criticism: Introductory readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA, 1992. Print.

Sternlieb, Gughes, and James Hughes. Housing and Economic Reality: New York City. New York: Urban Policy Research, 1976. Print.

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