The Double Life of Ernesto Gomez 1999
College
Latin American Studies
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Gerald Notaro, University Librarian, Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, University of South Florida, St. PetersburgThe Double Life of Ernesto Gomez Gomez is not as compelling a film as it could have been, or should have been. The story follows a 10-year-old boy's discovery that his family in Mexico is an adopted one. He is really the son of Puerto Rican revolutionaries, his mother a prisoner with a 55-year sentence, and his father exiled in Cuba. Through television news clips, newspaper headlines, interviews, and newsreel film footage Ernesto's tale unfolds. He meets his mother in prison, moves to San Francisco at 15 so he can visit her weekly, returns to Mexico, and is reunited with his mother, Dylcia Pagan, when she is released through executive clemency from President Clinton in 1999. Only the charisma of Dylcia, evident from her on screen narratives, quickens the film’s slow moving pulse. Recommended only for Latin American and Hispanic collections.