Al otro lado
Al Otro Lado The Other Side is a 2004 Mexican film directed by Gustavo Loza. The film follows the story of three children, one from Mexico, Cuba, and Morocco, as they attempt to deal with realities of immigration in their societies. The film won three awards at the Lleida LatinAmerican Film Festival in 2006, including Best Film and the Audience Award Vanessa Bauche won best actress at the festival for her performance. Al Otro Lado was also the Mexican candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards, but was not selected as one of the final five nominees.
The second boy introduced in the story, ngel, is ashamed of his mother, who is promiscuous. He was told before the story began that his father is a famous person and lives al otro lado. Desperate for a sense of pride, he and his friend, Walter, attempt to cross the ocean in a primitive raft to find his father. In their attempt, however, their raft is hit and overturned by a large wave. Walter drowns in the ensuing chaos, while ngel miraculously escapes. He doesnt have the courage to tell his friends mother of what happened and feels extremely guilty. His grandfather notices something is wrong and urges his mother to talk to him. He tells his mother a little of what happened in the ocean and why they were there, and his mother figures out the rest and tells him that his father knows nothing of ngels existence. But tells him that he is all that she and his grandfather have and vice versa. ngel learns to be content in his situation and the cinematography suggests that his friends death is no longer a burden to him, but a memory to carry with him.Ftima is a girl who runs away from home to find her father, bringing only a picture of him with her. She is intercepted, though, by slave traders, who offer to take her across to Spain on their boat. Once the traders arrive, a woman who works with them refuses to send Ftima to work because Ftima is too young and they have enough girls anyway. This woman, who does not speak Arabic, takes Ftima in and eventually softens enough to drive Ftima to Mlaga and help her find her father. The father is with a Spanish woman, but once confronted with his daughter, he leaves the other woman to return Ftima home. The movie ends with a shot of the two of them in front of their home village. ........
Source: Wikipedia
