Immigrant stories are nothing new in Hollywood. Immigrant stories about Hiatens on the other hand are very new to Hollywood. Mountains is a bit misleading title, but once you watch this amazing film you’ll understand why it’s called that. Director Monica Sorelle co-wrote it with Robert Colom, who based it on their life experiences. They both had Caribbean backgrounds, one Hiaten and the other of Cuban descent. Anyone from the Caribbean will resonate with this story though.

Xavier (Atibon Nazaire) of Hiaten descent is toiling away as a demolition worker every day. His wife Esperance (Sheila Anozair) also works two jobs, one as a crosswalk guard and a dressmaker/seamstress on the side. This doesn’t get in the way of making sure her husband has a hot meal when he gets home from work. Their love for each other knows no bounds. Their patience is stretched thin when dealing with their son Junior (Chris Renios) who has dropped out of college and is now parking cars at a resort hotel in Miami as a way of making a living. He does stand up on the side. He’s not doing what his parents want him to do though. 

This film shows the true experience of someone who is from one of the island countries off the coast of Florida. There is a party seen for a little girl’s communion that is truly unique to this experience. The food is amazingly prepared and I felt like I was going to jump through the screen to eat it. It looked that good. This type of community event showed what a tight-knit community Little Haiti is. The problem is there is an underlying problem in this community.  One that a lot of poor or bad neighborhoods experience.  It’s called gentrification. It’s not good for the low-income people who live in these types of neighborhoods. 

The lead character has a hard time going to work each day knowing he’s going to have to demolish homes that someone could live in. All over his neighborhood, he sees signs of River Realty and the realtor’s name on the signs. Some of them are sold, which means they’re going to be demolished to build “quote en-quote” bigger and better homes in their place. This means more and more of his people are being forced out of this community. This is a hard pill for him to swallow each day.

This film has a unique vibe to it. Many scenes repeat themselves to show the neighborhood. There is a slow pace to it for a reason. It’s to show what is truly going on in this man’s head as he sees his family struggling each day. He wants a good life for them, that’s why he came to this country. More and more that is getting taken away from them. Even though they have their lives they live they know that they deserve better. A better life won’t come through. They just have to be happy with what they have and who they are in the end. Sometimes we just can’t change anything no matter how hard we try. Our plight in life won’t change. We are just meant to be where we are in life. It’s a sad way to look at things, but that’s as they say the breaks.

Mountains is a uniquely Caribbean story anybody from any of the island nations off the coast of Florida can relate to. It has a hard-working couple at its core with things that are happening around them that a lot of people are going through, not just Hiatens.  The acting from the cast is good with the standout being the lead character. The film looked great. Being filmed in Miami, would you expect anything else? The movie as a whole was directed by and written excellently by Sorelle and Colom. This was a fantastic film-going experience all the way around for me.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen