Mi Familia is a mini masterpiece. It uses all manner of genre styles to tell its story and amazingly it works. This is a film with so much passion and significance it is almost tiring to praise it for fear of running out of breath. You could call this film an epic or a saga since it deals with many generations of the same family. The film never shies away from making a social comment or two and deals directly with the issues at hand in whatever time period it happens to take place in. The family has never had an easy life, but the closing statement rings true in that despite the hardships they have been made to endure they have lead an incredibly good life. More than twice this family is broken up by the racial hatred and civilly unjust policies of their times, but they always stick together and no matter what happens or who does what this family is truly unbreakable. All performances are fantastic but there is one the really sticks out. Jimmy Smits has proved time and again that he is a capable actor but his work in this film is simply amazing.
Review of My Family/Mi familia
