Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary (2005)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The Death Train part of this documentary is the most evocative and is unforgettable. We see the people riding on the tank cars and feel their desperation. We meet lots of very raw, real people throughout this film. As a former Texan and current Californian, I feel I know much first hand but learned more than I expected. I got to feel the rivalries between Mexico and states to the south and feel some of this journey. When the cameras follow the people, rather than interview with subtitles, Wetback is at its best. The actual crossing of the Rio Grande is a tremendous visual moment. But the movie had too many talking heads, although they were real people and their comments appeared natural. I want to see more and be told less. It was like arriving 5 minutes after the action most of the time. I wondered about the camera crew, which carried on in old fashioned objective style, in which the cameraman is invisible. I would have preferred to know something about who was telling me this story. Lots of cops were quoted, albeit cops sensitive to the problem. We are never told who anyone is, such as the funny old white couple. The nerdy redneck from Arizona is a tragicomic figure, as raw as any in the film. He is, of course, disgusted when he finds hair gel and other signs the immigrants are human. The cinematography and camera angles were original, but I am not into that kind of thing too much. I recommend this film as a high quality production, with great people, but 97 minutes starts to be long after about 70 minutes.

What a revealing documentary about the journey of 'undocumented' migrant workers through Central America and Mexico in hopes of reaching Canada or the United States to 'live the American Dream.' No one ever said the dream belonged solely to United States' Americans. A good look at the dangers and difficulties that these people face-just trying to feed their families. This film highlights the catholic safe houses throughout Central America, Mexico, the United States, and Canada, and their rise in popularity since the inception of the WTO. This film reveals the dangers migrants face long before they get to the vigilante minutemen who patrol the border along with US and Mexican Border Patrols. From catching 'death trains' to Mexican gangs which rob and murder migrants on their way to the US and Canada from central American countries, the filmmakers take the viewer on a ride with brave people simply seeking a better life. An excellent companion documentary for this film is "Crossing Arizona."

I was alarmed by Downey's comments. Part of the reason immigrants are coming to America is as a fallout to the policies of past US administrations. When Reagan invaded El Salvador and Honduras in the '80s, thousands were killed and displaced. They were trained by both the US armed forces and CIA to fight against their own people (taken from schools by force by the time they reached 12)and also offered green cards to become fighting machines against the Sandanistas. (This is happening now, with the US trying to recruit Mara Salvatruchas to fight in Iraq). Thanks to the rape of those two countries by the US, there is very little left to stay for. The beauty of these undocumented workers is that they come to the US to do just that: Work, hard. And - unlike Downey suggests - with no medical insurance. Not only do they prop up the US economy, they also pour millions into their own economies - something that the US should be doing to make up for the past. I really enjoyed this documentary. I hope it will remind all of those lucky enough not to be born in the barrio/ghetto/shanty-town, that unless we do something about it there will always be people willing to risk life and limb, just to be able to eat.

The problem with this documentary is it's very one-sided. They talk about the benefits of immigrants going into the US and give statistics, but they fail to give the stats on the negative impact of the immigrants. They talk about the taxes and social security they pay, but not about the money the US spends on the immigrants (health care, jobs lost, education, etc.). The fact of the matter is they are 'illegal' immigrants. I don't think the documentary once refers to them as 'illegal'. But it's not the illegal immigrants that should be to blame here; it's the corrupt governments of the countries they come from. The documentary brings up how the police in Mexico abuse these people, but it goes deeper than that. Why about the government who is supposed to be controlling the police force? Why doesn't the documentary go into that? And people put blame on the American people for wanting the illegal immigration to stop, and the government. Why should America have to support the illegal immigrants? The documentary doesn't talk about that. And there is a threat of terrorist coming in the same way. The only mention of that is from an American civilian guarding the boarder. I sympathize with the immigrants, but they are going in illegally and the blame should be placed more on the corrupt governments of their home countries...not the US. Because the documentary doesn't go deep enough into the reasons for the illegal immigration, I feel it's biased.