Mi Familia

I really enjoyed this movie because, even though a lot of terrible things happened to Paco's family, it was one of those feel-good movies that made me feel like I got something after watching it. I thought it was interesting how an owl was used to represent the river spirit because it presented an omen of something bad to come, which appeared before Maria and Chucho almost drowned in the river and before Chucho was killed by the police officer. I can relate to Maria's belief that it wasn't the police officer but the river spirit that killed Chucho because my Filipino side of my family is very superstitious, and while they are also very religious when it comes to honoring the Virgin Mary and Jesus, they believe in many different folklore and cultural stories. Also, the idea of Cihuateteo, the souls of women who had died giving birth and help the sun set, was very powerful to me. I felt so bad for Jimmy because he had so many horrible things happen to him and he was so full of anger that he wanted to hurt himself by bleeding and being placed in prison for years. I thought it was very selfless of Jimmy to go out of his way to marry Isabel so that she wasn't deported back to El Salvador, which eventually benefited him greatly because he found someone who shared just as much pain over the loss of a family member being shot right in front of her, which helped develop their love for each other. I liked how the director used the idea of Jimmy finding the baseball where Chucho was killed and throwing it back to the kids as a sense of closure for him and the loss of brother, and possibly his wife. It made me so happy when Jimmy decided to go to Texas to find Carlitos's rich cowboy father and invite him along, as well as when Carlitos was finally able to accept Jimmy as his father and go to Texas with him. I couldn't agree more with the ending of the film - Jose and Maria did live a very good life, and that it is wrong to ask for too much in this life. This presents a moral that many should listen to - be happy with your life and enjoy what God gives you.