Which Way Home Which Way Home is a documentary about the struggle of a group of young kids from Mexico and Central America to make it to the United States on a train called “The Beast.” This documentary, directed by Rebecca Cammisa, brings to attention a human face on the immigration issue. It shows life-threatening risks that are taken by child migrants so they could bring an end to their problems such as fear of life on the streets, lack of jobs and having a better education. Even though it is prohibited to ride freight trains such as “The Beast,” thousands of Central American children and adults take them to make the 1,450-mile trip journey to the United States but first crossing the Guatemala-Mexico border. According to the documentary …show more content…
The emotional letter that Juan left for his mother might be one of the most emotional scenes in the documentary. The pure emotions that the letter was written by Juan to her mother leaves the audience with the bonds and emotions felt between the kids and families. Juan Carlos’s father abandoned the family years ago and left to New York, consequently Juan believe it is his responsibility to provide for his family. He also wants to find his father in New York and confronts him about why he has forgotten about them. The story of Juan is not just about migration of children, but also the issue of family separation. The documentary does not dehumanize but rather bring the humane and sensitive lens to the story of Juan where the human drama that these young immigrants and their families live. Juan Carlos is not the first of Esmeralda’s sons to leave for the United states, his nine-year-old brother Francisco was smuggled into California one month earlier. Francisco now lives with Gloria, his grandmother, who paid a smuggler $3,500 to bring him to Los Angeles, California. Once Juan Carlos is in the shelter for child migrants his mother eagerly awaits him outside. After she sees him she signs a paper that says if Juan Carlos tries to travel again, he will be sent to a foster home. According to the documentary, each year the Border Patrol apprehends 100,000 children trying to enter the …show more content…
Two weeks later, Fito and Yurico were found cold and hungry on the tracks in Irapuato. Affected by this they put an end to their journey to the north. They were placed in a shelter by Mexican Immigration to get deported. Out of the four kids, Kevin is only one who makes it to the United States. Detained in Huston, he feels he is trapped, “cornered and locked up.” He only gets to do only so many things, misses his mother and regrets everything that lead to him to coming to the United States. Eventually, Kevin is deported back to Honduras and meets his beloved mother. Even though, his mother is happy to see him, she admits that it would have been better for him if he could have founded a family in United States. His step father also thinks that Kevin is a problem and shouldn’t live with them. Nine months later Kevin and Fito made another attempt to reach the United States. Fito was caught and transferred back to Honduras and Kevin was caught at the United States border, then transferred to a shelter in Washington
In today's world there is kids in child labor and many people struggling with poverty. It is important that Francisco Jimenez tells a story of migrant farm workers because many people don't understand the struggles the workers go throw.This is relevant to our lives because people who aren't struggling with poverty or are in child labor take most things for granted and those who struggle would be more than grateful for the most slightest
Starting a new life is very problematic for many Central American children that migrate to the United States. There are a lot of difficulties involved in the process to migrate to the United States including the journey to get there. An extremely common way to migrate is by train. Migrants usually take away many life lessons from the journey to the United States such as the generosity and assistance from fellow Central Americans. On the other hand there’s extreme hardships. For example, the many robberies, and gang violence a migrant can face on the journey to the United States. During the trip, migrants learn that they usually cannot take things for granted, especially how scarce food, supplies, and other necessities are.
The push-and-pull factors in Enrique’s yearn for the U.S not only allows him to rediscover himself as an individual in a world of uncertainty, it also eliminates his constant fear of failing as a promising human being; in addition exhibits the undying hope of a desperate man found in hopeful migrants. In Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” his mother’s trip streamed “emptiness” into the heart of a once comfortable child and left him to “struggle” to hold memories they shared. Enrique’s life after Lourdes’ departure triggered the traumatizing demise of his identity. He threw this broken identity away while facing many obstacles, nevertheless each endea...
The movie La Jaula de Oro, is a life story of a journey of three kids from Guatemala to the United States. In the movie there are three kids Sara, Samuel, and Juan, they first embark on the journey through Mexico. When they first arrive to Chiapas, the kids put on a play to collect money for food, after the play Sara befriends this boy named Chauk. Who is an indigenous boy from Tzotzil, and also plans to get to America, and convinces them to come join the group. This group of kids is put through a lot during the film, it’s a very interesting journey for 4 kids to experience. This film shows the struggles and difficulties immigrants succumb and sheds some light into the harsh realities of what people don’t think about when they hear the word
In the book “Enrique’s Journey” written by Sonia Nazario, a projects reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Nazario talks about the true story of a young Honduran boy named Enrique that was abandoned by his mother Lourdes at the age of 5. His mom left to the United States as an immigrant to work so she can be able to give her poor children a better living. After 11 years without having a mother by his side, makes Enrique decide to go to North Carolina to search for his mother. Traveling from Honduras across the Mexican republic and “El Tren De La Muerte” also known as The Train of the Death, Enrique sets off his long journey to find his beloved mother. Meeting his mother after all this time caused tensions between Enrique and Lourdes, his mother, begin to rise. Enrique resents his mother for having left him, and says that “money does not solve anything”(197).Lourdes tells Enrique that he should blame his father for leaving,
The themes explored in the novel illustrate a life of a peasant in Mexico during the post-revolution, important themes in the story are: lack of a father’s role model, death and revenge. Additionally, the author Juan Rulfo became an orphan after he lost
Enrique’s journey, by Sonia Nazario, is the story of young immigrant boy’s journey to the United States. The importance of family and the persistence of an adolescent is what the book tries convoy to the audience. Sonia Nazario, the autor of the book, is a journalist who was known for her work with the publisher, the Los Angeles Times. She has won the Pulitzer Prize for her rigorous work in the field of journalism. What she wanted to achieve with the novel was to shed some light on the young kids making the same journey Enrique does and the dangerous they endure to reunite with their parents or leave their life of poverty. Sonia Nazario was born in the United States and holds her degrees in Latin American Studies.
Specifically, one of those was the insecurity felt by the children as they traveled through Mexico. At one point in the film, the boys talked about how they were robbed and abused by Mexican authorities. One of them spoke briefly about how it took several Mexican officials to take his watch off his arm, because he refused to hand it over. This issue leads back to one that was described earlier in this paper, the influence organized crime has on the Mexican government. The major issue that was cited in this documentary however, is the growing number of unaccompanied children traveling to the United States. This issue has two sides to it, the social side and the political side. The first side of this issue starts at the home country of each of these children. Their government is not able or not willing to help them, and as a result they live in poverty and without access the basic human needs; water, food, shelter. This leads the children to want better for themselves and ultimately to take the decision to travel to the U.S. On the political side, the unaccompanied children are causing Mexico and the United States to spend more money on Immigration. This because they have to create more detention centers for minors, they have to house and feed them until they are deported to their country of origin. Throughout the film these issues are put into the perspective of the children. The reason the directors did this, was to show the challenges the children face as they made their journey. The reason they used that perspective is because it is a unique one. It is not every day that you hear about a 12 year old who traveled across Mexico and into the United States
In The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail, Oscar Martinez comments on the injustices that occur while migrating from Central America. Central Americans are forced to leave their countries in fear of the inevitable consequences. The systematic abuse Central Americans endure while migrating is founded on that fear which results in more repercussions for migrants. The psychological effects of migrating is used by Martinez to give insight on the atrocities that happen in Central America. The corruption involved while migrating in Central America is against human rights and should be brought immediate attention internationally. Martinez uses the experiences of migrants to expose Mexico’s passivity on the subject and to expose readers’ to the hard truths that occur while migrating.
This documentary shows that the abducted children are trained to become killers some escape and live their whole lives in constant fear. Others are no longer fazed by the violence and killing.
I have heard fascinating stories about vans and cars full of Mexicans being pulled over, taken to the border police and deported back to their residence as they attempt to cross the border. Some of them are lucky enough to make it through their journey while some lose their lives. Every year many people try to enter illegally in the United States to get success in their life, to get a better job and sometimes to get united with their families. There is no doubt that the journey of crossing the border is very dangerous and sometimes life threatening. It is understandable when adults are trying to risk their life in search of a better life but when minors take the same attempt and risk their life what are we supposed to do as parents or family? In the film Which Way Home director Rebecca Cammisa shows the journey that many unaccompanied minors attempt with the hope of migrating across the Mexican-U.S. border for a better life is actually a potentially fatal passage. “Each year, the Border Patrol apprehends 100,000 children try to enter the US” (Which Way Home). By showing different consequences of crossing border Cammisa tries to create awareness among parents and even in the children. Parents should not give permission to their children to cross the border and children who have no parents also should not try to cross it. Through her documentary, she tries to educate teenagers and their parents about the risks and dangers of crossing the border illegally. In the documentary Cammisa shows that there are people who know about the possible consequences, but still ignore it, and at the end they regret of taking such an attempt. Through her documentary Cammisa also warns them not to make such decisions because at the end they are not...
That feeling of leaving his parents in the Philippines to go with a stranger when he was 12 years old is truly unfortunate, but his mother was looking looking out with his best interests in mind. She just wanted her son to get a taste of the American dream, and have a better life in America rather than suffering with her in the Philippines. Vargas’s essay moves the reader emotionally as he explains when he was finally successful in getting the highest honor in journalism, but his grandmother was still worried about him getting deported. She wanted Vargas to stay under the radar, and find a way to obtain one more chance at his American dream of being
The second example follows a working-class boy of Hispanic descent. Children from poor and working-class families face a number of obstacles. First, because of their parents’ work schedules,
After reading Manolo’s story in particular, I was shocked by the amount of hardship he had to endure getting to the United States and how much he and many other unaccompanied minors have to endure to have a better life in the United States (Álvarez, 2014). This type of information
The future holds a different meaning for everyone, for some it holds hope while for others it holds despair. This constant wondering about the future has influenced many works to be written about the future. Some of these works propose a blissful future, but the majority paint the picture of an unfortunate dystopian world. Recently I read Daughters of the North, a novel in which the dystopian future of England is shown. Shortly after reading Daughters of the North, I watched The Road. This film showed a similar view of the future, yet more grim and unappealing that Daughters of the North. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting these two works to show two different points of view of what a dystopian world is. After watching The Road I realised there was a large amount of books and movies that believe the future will be grim. I believe this is because as humans we fear what may be in our future due to the conflicts that we face today and wish to warm the world.