American Me

American Me was a straightforward message from start to finish. The film immediately starts off with a line that pretty much sums up the whole meaning of the story. What confused me at first at the start of the film was how the protagonists mother and father were the first characters introduced more than he was, but as the film progressed, I began to understand why that was.  Santana is a prime example of a system that revolves around a cycle of violence. The tattoo on his hand that you see everyone throughout the film also having serves as a symbol of this cycle.  One thing I really appreciate about this film is that it doesn’t exactly glamorize the crime genre in a generic way like some other films or shows do. It lays it plain and simple for the viewer to understand that paranoia always follows and it keeps the viewer in a dark place; there is no safe corner for Santana or anyone involved besides the “good life”, and the rise and downfall of each and every character is heavily displayed as a penalizing result of their actions.  Julie was sort of a catalyst to the break of the cycle that Santana planted when he told her to work hard and go to school despite her age. She kept her son away from the other kids, and Santana’s father watched from his doorstep as his youngest son repeated the cycle of violence while Julie resisted it.  Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It kept me feeling a sense of despair; especially the scenes with Puppet and Little Puppet. If there’s a film that this reminded me of, it would have to be 1984 and how Santana is basically like Winston where he pays the price for what seems to be a small change but in the future will grow drastically.