March 15, 2008

"Under the Same Moon": Mexican-government funded pro-illegal immigration propaganda film

"Under the Same Moon" is a new, Mexican government-funded movie about illegal immigration from director Patricia Riggen. The distributors are Fox Searchlight Pictures and The Weinstein Company, and the production companies listed are Creando Films (website unknown) and Potomac Pictures (potomacpictures.com). And, per this, the "Financier" is Fidecine, which is the Mexican government agency designed to promote the Mexican film industry: www.comisionrtc.gob.mx/fidecine

Per the director ("A Child's-eye view of immigration woe" by Delfín Vigil, link):

"I'm not a politician, and I didn't write a political essay... I made a movie. I like entertainment and I like art. If the entertainment is meaningful, it becomes art. That's what I tried to do... [later:] ...Maybe by showing the human side, it becomes political... It's always easier to show a statistic or give the numbers on the economic impact of immigration. By showing the family impact, I think it becomes something that everybody can relate to."

In other words, it's just pro-illegal immigration propaganda. The article also confirms that "she won the trust of private investors and gained funding from the Mexican government". So, not only is it propaganda designed to support illegal immigration, it's funded by the government that profits from that illegal activity.

Two other recent propaganda efforts are described in Tim Padgett's dishonest look at illegal immigration ("Paraiso Travel" movie) and Linda Ellerbee's pro-illegal immigration propaganda for kids (Nickelodeon).

UPDATE: Reed Johnson of the Los Angeles Times offers a review in "Latino immigrants and their northern exposure" (link), and, yes, it's about what you'd expect coming from the LAT. He refers to the INS, an agency that hasn't existed for about five years. And, only on the second screen are we informed about the Mexican government link:

Shot mostly in and around Mexico City, on a budget of less than $2 million, the movie is one of only a handful of commercial films that have attempted to offer a transnational perspective on Mexican-American life. Funded in part by Mexico's national film commission...

And, Johnson takes braindead, by-the-LAT-stylebook swipes at those who support our laws:

TO all the people who think that the illegal immigration debate is about electronic fences, NAFTA, Lou Dobbs and such, director Patricia Riggen and screenwriter Ligiah Villalobos offer a polite but emphatic rebuttal... As for the thornier social issues that "Under the Same Moon" raises, the women suggest there's an urgent need to move the discussion on illegal immigration beyond talk-radio ranting...

The screenwriter also stumps for amnesty:

"I think that the issue is being hijacked by a very small group of people," says [Ligiah Villalobos]. "There are polls that are done on a regular basis about how Americans actually feel about the illegal immigrant issue. And most of the polls show that 60% to 65% of Americans believe that there should be a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants."

UPDATE 2: David Montgomery of the Washington Post offers "'Same Moon,' Seen From Cloud Nine". Despite taking up five screens, he completely fails to note anything about the movie's funding. And, like Johnson, he gets in his own braindead digs:

Turns out that generations ago [Riggens'] people immigrated to the United States, and her great-grandfather fought in the Civil War. Then that same loco great-gramps, William Henry Riggen, lit out to make a new life -- in Mexico. No word on whether he had proper immigration papers.

Obviously, Montgomery is too much of an idiot to understand how Mexico's laws are far more restrictive than those in the U.S.

And, Lewis Beale of the New York Daily News offers "La Misma Luna," an immigration drama with a novela touch. As with the preceding, he doesn't note the Mexican government connection.

UPDATE 3: I left a comment on the NYDN article, which was subsequently deleted. I left it again, let's see if it sticks this time:

[This comment was deleted before, despite not violating the NYDN's "Discussion Guidelines". Apparently they don't want you to know this.] What Lewis Beale "forgot" to tell you is that the movie was financed by the Mexican government: http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007545.html It's propaganda designed to support illegal immigration, and financed by the govenment that profits from that illegal activity.

UPDATE 4: Lilia O'Hara of the San Diego Union Tribune offers "'Moon' director looks at 'the most powerful relationship that exists'", only saying that it was "binationally financed". How creative of her.

UPDATE 5: Iain Blair of Reuters offers "Mexican film puts human face on immigration"; like the rest, it doesn't reveal the financing. Likewise with the review from Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor.

UPDATE 6: Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly also forgot to mention the funding.

Posted to Immigration2008a at March 15, 2008 10:34 AM