Better Life

It speaks well enough about the fate of immigrants everywhere, especially those who want to work hard but end up being exploited.

Bichir carries it all with a measured performance of considerable emotion as the dad, clenched by so many years holding his breath, waiting for the knock at the door.

Fresh, human, insightful, moving.

This is the sort of tepid tragedy, all sentiment and no cojones, that one could previously malign as a TV movie, as it attempts to say nothing new about the issues at hand.