My Family - A Perfect Portrayal of becoming “un Americano”

The 1995 film Mi Familia (My Family), was one of the first and most positive representations of real Mexican-American life. Director, Gregory Nava, created such a true to life chronicle of the Mexican-American experience through three generations (1920’s, 1950’s, and 1980’s). I still remember the pride that I felt when this film was released to theatres. I remember speaking to my family and friends about it. All of us agreed that it had been a long …

…reality that it was almost scary how much of ourselves and our families we found in this film. I strongly feel that life is all about “Nuestra Familia.” It is about tradition. “Familia” breeds cultural ethics and traditions shared by all of the “barrios” in the United States. The Mexican-American family is strong, it will hold together through adversity, poverty, illness, separation and death. This film was a perfect interpretation of all of these importances.