This movie was a very moving experience. Immigration is a topic that has been talked about for so many years in the classroom and in the world. Living in the north east you only experience the after effect of immigration and not the in person constant struggle. The documentary allowed for people to experience in real time the struggles behind why so many people are risking their lives to make the journey to America. The documentary follows the 2,000 mile journey many have made for a better life.
In the first half of the movie you see the beginning of the journey start for the people who are trying to escape their lives. In their native country they are struggling economically and socially because of revolts and police brutality. This is no way for any human to live and many have realized that. The one woman talks about the hardships for her family. They are natives of Honduras and she has two little girls. Her husband can no longer work because he is sick, and she is the sole person keeping her family alive. She was driven to America by her motherly instincts. She knew that if she stayed not only would her children starve but they would have no future. She wanted her children to have an education, a basic human right, so they can get a good job and not have to worry about food and money for their children like she has too.
The hardships for many of these immigrants does not stop once they have left their country. They face imprisonment in America since they are illegal, because they couldn’t get visas. Starvation and brutality are very strong among these immigrants. Once in America they need jobs and a home, which are both hard to come by since they have to do so secretly. They are subject to the worse types of treatment because they cannot go to the police, or they will be deported. Family drives so many immigrants. Mothers and fathers see that their current situation is not humane, so they take their children and run to what they think will be a better life.
The most moving part of this movie is the sections on immigrant shelter. These men and women have dedicated their lives to ending the suffering of those who decided to leave their country. They provide food and shelter for those who are displaced. They see the children suffering on the train and it brings them to tears, all they want it is to help them. They help those who have been captured by Mexican police on their journey to America. Not only were their dreams crushed when the Mexican police, because they didn’t make it to America, but they were brutally treated by them. Many of them lose hope for a better life under the care of the Mexican police when they are shipped back to their countries. This is where these shelters come in, the men and women take them in and try to help them regain a hope for life. The women in the film from the shelter cried when she talked about the children who were on these shipments back. They were alone, hungry, confused. She said that she never wanted her son to immigrate because she has seen this fate for so many that have tried. So she is trying to give him a better life where they are.