Y Tu Mama Tambien

The erotic opening scene of the film “Y Tu Mama Tambien” immediately immerses you into the wild and face-paced lives of Tenoch and Julio, two teenagers whose only goal in life seems be satisfying their perpetual sex drives. At first, it may appear as though you are watching a pornographic film, but as the characters and the plot begin to develop it quickly becomes clear how much more this film has to offer. Soon after the movie begins, the two boys find themselves in a sort of dysfunctional love triangle with the beautiful and much older Luisa, who recently discovered her husband’s unfaithful ways.

What struck me the most, is that underneath this carefree and slightly raunchy film, lays a sobering message about life and death. Tenoch and Julio live their lives fearlessly and in a way that appeals and lures in Luisa. We do not find out until the end of the film that Luisa was terminally ill with cancer throughout her entire time with the boys and kept it secret to them. Luisa knows that if she tells the boys about her illness they will most likely treat her differently. At certain times throughout their journey to “Heaven’s Mouth”, the music is interrupted and we hear a narrator comment on events from the past that happened at each location. One of the commentaries points out the location where, several years earlier a man was killed in a horrible car accident. This is once again, a reminder to us how fragile life can be.

Luisa teaches the boys many things on their journey, including how to forgive and how to properly make love to a woman. These important lessons come to have an even greater significance at the end of the film, when we find out Luisa knew she was dying. I think this film has a very important message and that is to live life to the fullest. Luisa and the boys learned through each other how to do that. I also found the ending to be incredibly unfortunate and sad because the two men could not put aside certain events from their trip and become friends again. It was a sobering moment at the end to watch Julio find out about Luisa’s death and the sadness wash over his face. Even though they both went their separate ways, they had experienced a journey that would forever bond them.