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These issues are brought by poor government planning, failure to map out each region’s economic needs, and how to make the citizens self-reliant. The self-reliant measures that the South American governments can put in place will, in turn, enable the parents of the children who seek to migrate from their countries to stay as they see a promising future there . Most of the boys in the documentary show that they are still at the school-going age, yet they are loitering in the streets of their respective countries as they plan on becoming immigrants in the United States. According to the documentary, none of the children are going to school because they do not have the fees to keep them there, and it forces their parents to push them to the streets.
The dangers of the children's' trip to the US is well documented in 'Which Way Home'. There is a jarring image of a dead body floating in the water near the Mexican-US Border. The children relate harrowing stories of various migrants falling to their deaths from the top of the trains they're traveling on. In the majority of cases, however, many of the children die of exposure while attempting to cross the desert into the US. There are interviews with the parents of two of the children 'who didn't make it'.
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The film follows several children who are attempting to get from Mexico and Central America to the United States, on top of a freight train that crosses Mexico known as "La Bestia" . Cammisa received a Fulbright Scholar Grant to make the documentary in 2006. Policies that afford families time and financial resources to provide for their children and the aged population play an essential role in alleviating poverty and improving sustainability . Juan Carlos, Olga, and Freddy all note that either one of their parents or one of their siblings had already migrated to the United States, leaving them behind. The conditions that made them leave the South American states is because there were bleak economic hardships that could not sustain them. Aged 14 years old, Kevin is Honduran whose primary objective in taking the risky journey is securing a good job that will help him support his mother back in Central America (Rebecca Cammisa, n.p).
Objectivity is hard to come by as one watches this film about children wandering away from homes that cannot sustain their basic needs. The knowledge that none of it is fictional or manipulated for any effect other than that of cinematic value heightens the viewer's deep involvement with the children themselves. The story is spontaneous, dictated by real events rather than "directed." “I’m doing this because it’s been three years since I’ve seen my mother and I hope to be with her in Minnesota.” Olga is just nine years old and looks younger, her smile bright as she describes her imagined reunion. Even though Tash is the one behind the wheel, she is jittery and hesitant, while her father is at peace, completely trusting that they are going to reach their destination with no troubles at all.
Which Way Home: A Real-Life Slumdog on the Mexican Railroad
Children who live in poverty and wretched conditions climb on to freight trains bound for the U.S. in hopes of a better life. When they talk of the U.S. they dream of television realities, tall buildings, beautiful people, the land of plenty, smiles all the while on their faces. Burglarized and beaten all the while hungry with the potential of being raped and murdered, all for the sake of trying to get a job in the U.S. to feed their family or go to school. This 16 year old boy talks about witnessing a mother and daughter being raped by 15 men and there's this tear in his eye that can't quite drop. All these children attempt to drown their pain, to bury it, all the while hoping, praying, for that one chance that they may have a better life. It's hard to review this movie and not want to talk about immigration policy.
But I won't, I'll let the movie do that for me and hopefully people will begin to open their eyes to some of the harsh realities the U.S. immigration policy creates. The star of 'Which Way Home' is Kevin, an extremely genial 14 year old from Honduras who hooks up with Fito, another youngster who is from his hometown. Both have goals of reaching the United States and finding employment there in order to send money back to their impoverished families. Director Rebecca Cammisa and her small film crew follow the children as they travel from Honduras, through Guatemela and on through Mexico, on top of freight trains. Along the way, other children join Kevin and Fito including Yurico (aka 'Dog'), a 17 year old from Mexico who struggles with a drug addiction. The younger brother broke his arm during the trip and if not for a stranger who found him in the desert, he would have died.
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Juan’s main purpose for illegally migrating to America is taking care of his family. The documentary reveals Juan’s consciousness to take care of his mother and siblings after his father left them. An evaluation of the reason why Juan embarks on taking this risky journey showcases that social factors contribute to instances of illegal migration in the United States.
The primary driving force urging the children to migrate to a place far away from their homeland is searching for a better life overall. It should, however, be noted that each of the children in the movie bears a varying perspective and urge towards migrating to the United States. This is uncomfortable subject matter, in part because watching it reminds you how comfortable things are here in the States, despite the economic crash. None of us, after all, are sneaking our kids onto the Adirondack in hopes they'll find a better life in the lumber mills of Quebec.
According to Bruno, Andorra et al. , kids in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are exposed to high instances of child abuse. Cases of child abuse in the mentioned regions are attributed to poverty, drug abuse, and alcoholism. Most of the children in the documentary are Honduran, thus are exposed to instances of domestic violence.
Ten to twenty percent will die, on average just trying to get to America. The interviewer observes that if a stranger hadn’t found Francisco, he would have died — a fate for many children who end up victims of their own smugglers . Though these laborers send financial help to their children back at home, they do not earn enough pay to facilitate frequent travel to Central America. The overall implication of the explained ideology are instances of family separation. Aiming at getting a family reunion with their parents, children, as well as adults in Central America, end up on embracing the idea of crossing American borders illegally.
Family reunion is a factor that is closely tied to unemployment in Central America. Considering Jose’s case, it can be argued that there weren’t enough job opportunities in America. Jose’s mother could not have traveled to America, this fact might have prevented Jose from illegally migrating to the United States. In the documentary “Which Way Home”, viewers are exposed to a group of children from Central America who take a very risky journey through Mexico to the United States.
Tragically, such stories are likely to continue, since the policies of Mexico and the United States are not changing. Of course there will be critics who lurk behind the camera's eye, as it were, finding fault with presumed motives and attaching political meanings to what they wish beforehand to find in the facts of this film's production. The involvement of Doctor Strange really helps to drive home the age difference between Pete and the rest of the Avengers, which furthers The Spectacular Spider-Man of it all.
The social services that most of the young boys in the documentary lack are suitable housing, living conditions, and proper jobs for their parents. During a screening of the film which I attended, there were a number of people in the audience who inquired as to how they could contact Kevin, since they wanted to help him. It's difficult to describe why this kid is so likable—you really must see the film. When Kevin returns home to Honduras, we get some insight into why he wants to leave home again and it basically has to do with the conflict he has with his stepfather, who regards him as lazy and someone who's doesn't earn his keep. While Kevin appears fairly happy-go-lucky a good part of the time we see him, at other times he appears troubled. One of the most disturbing scenes in the film is when Kevin reveals he witnessed a gang rape while riding inside a boxcar of one of the freight trains where fifteen men ended up raping a mother and her young daughter.
Katie Beckett’s Which Way Home is a tender work about the father-daughter relationship, and a look at the ageing process. Young and old are placed in contrast with one another, for an appreciation of the way we mature, and for the value that elders embody in our communities. At its best, the play contains profound observations about family that are rarely articulated in our art, but a tendency to mollify the harder questions about kinship, results in a reduction of poignancy with what is being delivered. Most of the problems that make children immigrants run away from their home countries can be easily solved by their governments. Most of the children immigrant’s reasons for seeking a chance to be in the United States is directly connected to their family members.
The United States is death itself,” where desert temperatures range from 120 to 140 degrees. “Many will never see their families again… Many will die.” And yet, even after his speech, when he asks, “Who really wants to go to the United States? ”, everyone in the crowd raises his or her hand, the camera panning over faces, some smiling, most weary or apprehensive.
These are naturally sad stories, but I have to say they're hardly surprising. In fact, the most surprising thing is that the homes they're fleeing really don't seem THAT bad. But I suppose the siren call of the mythical American Dream is too much for some to resist. Director Rebecca Cammisa wisely stays away from politicizing the situation, and the film is done without narration and only brief informational titles. However, this means there is also a lack of any proposed remedies to the problem.
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