It is no shock that many people try desperately to reach the United States to attain a better quality of life for themselves and their families in their home countries.
This documentary focuses on children who ride atop a train they call “The Beast” in order to reach their “Promised Land.”
Some of the kids profiled are only nine years old and are traveling alone.
The risks are clear: they may be turned back by immigration officials on both sides of the Mexican/American border, abandoned in the desert without enough supplies, or murdered or raped by the smugglers hired to bring them to the United States.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/hFPqHzfX-70" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]While the children interviewed are street smart, they are still kids and have optimism about how they will better their lives once they reach the United States. It may be that naïve positive outlook that spurs them to undertake such a trip in the first place.
The children are from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. They are all trying to escape desperate poverty.
Director Rebecca Cammisa also gives time to the parents of a teen who died in the desert in the American southwest. He was one of the unlucky ones.
The intimate portraits provided by Cammisa are all the more compelling because her characters speak for themselves. She eschews using a narrator which brings the audience closer to the subjects.
While focusing on the here and now, this film is a timeless testament to the indomitableness of the human spirit and the constant search for something better.
“Which Way Home” is currently playing on HBO.
Murphy can be reached at: [email protected]
