La Mission

La Mission is a touching story of a tough Latino father who is challenged to break down the barriers of the culture and religion that has defined him in order to accept his gay son.

Director Peter Bratt has created a tapestry of modern day Latino life with endless images of traditional culture and historic religious symbols as a backdrop to the local characters that reside in the Mission district of San Fransisco.  He has taken great efforts to present a believable and convincing character in Che Rivera (played brilliantly by Benjamin Bratt) and we take notice and commend him for it.

Che Rivera was a man who was imprisoned by his culture and religion. He couldn’t escape it to accept his son; his only response was to write him off. Kudos to Peter Bratt for creating a character that we could not hate, but rather empathize with. I was heartbroken for Che that he couldn’t accept his son for who he was – but I understood why he couldn’t cross that line. I also knew that with time, he would come to understand why he had to.

This movie will not disappoint. Che’s son Jesse is expertly portrayed by Jeremy Ray Valdez. He represents the next generation that threatens the benchmarks that make his father who he is. Their struggle to find middle ground is believable and heartbreaking.

This movie will open your eyes to the many sides of acceptance. It will illuminate the “other” side and explain the many cultural and religious challenges our parents generations have faced as our society continues to mature.

We rated this movie an average of 3 or 4 out of 5.