Mi Familia is a heartwarming story spanning three generations of a Mexican family living in America. It is rich with universal issues that reflect the human condition and value: of relationships, family, love, and dreams. Although it focuses on the story of one family, it actually illustrates the many problems that an ethnic family goes through on this foreign soil. Its strength is that even if it tackles the issue of family it does not necessarily goes over melodramatic.
Cinematography was beautiful, with the different eras depicted differently each with distinction, making a real visual treat. The struggle between traditional values, ethics, and adapting to the challenges of living and surviving with language barriers, stigma and race issues are shown although it never really dwells on these issues. Instead the movie sweeps over all these different issues, and remains faithful to its theme: the family. It looks into all these aspects from the point of view of the family, and how all these external events affect the family. After all, blood is thicker than water, and these family ties are more lasting than anything on the world.
Lastly, the fact that the actors were all Latin American also lent credibility and authenticity to the movie. Mi Familia is not merely a story of one family, but as we watch it seems to tells us a story of a generation, of a people, and how they transform as the times change and yet stay the same where it really matters: in the heart, where they hold their values.
