The film “Illegal Tender” starring Rick Gonzalez (Wilson Jr.), Wanda De Jesus (Millie), and Dania Ramirez (Ana) is about a woman planning to get out of the ghetto with her drug dealing husband and unborn child in order to lead a better life. One night before her husband goes off to make a business transaction she tells him that she has put all the money he has made into a stock, so that they can actually use it and not be carrying around “illegal tender”. That same night her child is born and her husband is killed. She was devastated, but in the end she moved out of the ghetto in order to raise her son well.

This film is relevant to my topic because Millie is not the typical Latina woman. From the very beginning of the film she is smart and makes a great legal business deal in the hopes of getting her husband out of the drug dealing business. She is not submissive and does not hold her tongue. After the death of her husband she protects Wilson Jr. from the past.  She does not want him to live the same life so she shelters him in a way. This in the end causes a reversal of roles between mother and son. She takes on the role of protector and guardian while Wilson Jr. takes on the role of a weak and helpless individual.

One day Millie is at the grocery store with her youngest son and she is spotted by one of the goons that were present during the murder of her husband. From this point on she becomes the protector and keeper of her children. She has hidden certain facts about her life from Wilson Jr. and in the end made him somewhat incompetent. Millie suggests that they move away immediately and Wilson Jr. decides he doesn’t want to move anymore and wants to instead stay at home with his girlfriend. However, that same night, some goons come to the house and he is unable to defend himself or his girlfriend. Since his mother never told him about the past he did not know how to use a gun and even more so did not have the balls to shoot someone. In contrast his mother is more than capable of shooting not just one person but anyone who comes between her and the safety of her children.

The differences in the roles that Millie and Wilson Jr. play are contradictory to the Latino household norms. Millie has become the father figure for both her children and is able to handle and protect them accordingly. She knows how to shoot a gun and she knows how to be aggressive and straightforward when necessary. Even when some goons caught up to her and her son she was able to handle all the talking and made a deal to protect the both of them. Meanwhile, Wilson Jr. just stood behind his mother and let her handle everything. It is rare to see this kind of behavior from Latino families in real life. Usually the mothers, even if they are single mothers, do not take on masculine characteristics. They remain submissive, obedient, and domestic as opposed to the qualities Millie holds which include aggressiveness, knowledge of weapon use, physical dominance, and stubbornness. Millie is an example of an exaggerated attempt at equality between Latinos and Latinas. Latinas should not have to feel like they need to become more aggressive and like a man. They should instead attempt to be treated equally in their relationships both romantic and familial.