Spanglish, directed by Jim Brooks, is a tragicomedy about problems of assimilation of Mexican Americans in the United States. Although the word Spanglish refers to the tendency of recent immigrants to converse in sentences with words from both languages, the film is about cultural contradictions, not language. Indeed, hardly any Spanglish is spoken. The film is liberally explained in voiceovers by Christina (played by Shelbie Bruce), the young daughter of Flor (played by Paz Vega). Christina, who is eighteen, reflects on the difficult days of adjusting not only to American culture but also the efforts of her mother Flor to impart values of Mexican culture to her. After illegally crossing the border to Texas (where about one-third of the population is Mexican), Flor and six-year-old Christina move to Los Angeles (where 48 percent are Mexican) and live in the barrio. For six years, Flor holds two jobs to bring home $450 per week, but does not leave the barrio. However, the Clasky family needs a housekeeper for their Bel-Air residence and is willing to pay the same amount for one job, so she is hired though she speaks no English. Inevitably, the mode of communication is a crude sign language. Flor, immersed in a different culture for the first time, can clearly observe that residents of the opulent residence of the Clasky family are not exactly happy and have a lifestyle that is less polite and respectful than what she left behind in México City. John Clasky (played by Adam Sandler) runs a restaurant that has considerable notoriety. Deborah (played by Téa Leoni) is a housewife who has very little identity apart from being the spouse of a successful entrepreneur and the mother of an unattractive daughter and son. Deborah's mother Evelyn (played by Cloris Leachman) also lives in the house but is usually neglected by all. After amusing incidents in which the family learns how to deal with Flor and vice versa, the fireworks begin when the Claskys rent a Malibu summer home for three months, inviting Flor to occupy a room with an ocean view so that she will not have to commute the long distance to and from the barrio. The situation comedy then turns into a soap opera. Flor at first refuses until John learns that she has a daughter, so the Claskys agree to have mother and daughter housed in the room. Most of the incidents then involve the relationship between mother and daughter. On the first full day, Deborah takes Christina to town while Flor is sleeping; when she awakens, she is angry that she was not consulted first. In the evening, Christina presents John with objects collected from the sand; on the first night, he had asked his children and Christina to collect them, promising payment for each item. Christina's collection amasses enough for $640, more than Flor's weekly paycheck, so the latter is again angry. John expresses regret, but Deborah does not, a sign of a widening in the relationship between spouses but a gradual convergence of understanding between John and Flor, though Christina is caught in the crossfire. The conflict then heads for a climax in which the integrity of Mexican culture is preserved against the backdrop of the contradictions of Anglo Southern California culture. Immigrants viewing Spanglish will get the message, but Anglo residents are much less likely to comprehend the moral, presented as it is from Christina's perspective. MH
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