I haven't seen this movie, but the trailers sound very similar to a book I read a few years ago called Highwire Moon by Susan Straight. The child's gender is switched and in the book it's the daughter who is in the US. But many of the scenes sound similar. I can't find any attribution to the book on any movie sites. Any comments out there from literary folks?
sharei'm not sure yet
but i think it has more similitude to another book
Enrique's journey, which is actually a little boy who is on his way to look for his mother who left them years ago and went to the US
the little boy leaves with just a piece of paper in his pocket where he has his mother's phone number
he is honduran though and the mother lives in north carolina
i don't know, but the general idea of the movie is based in almost 12 million people that live here.
"WTF! hey that scared me lol...ill send this to my friend..."
i attended this screeing at Sundance in 2007. during the Q&A, when asked where the source material from this film came from (ie. is this based on a true story, etc.), the screenwriter said that it was not a single story, but pieces cobbled together from many people she knew.
she never mention it being based on or adapted from a book.