Which Way Home?

I like to watch documentaries while I eat lunch at the office. Today I started the Oscar nominated documentary, Which Way Home (2009), directed by Rebecca Cammisa, who made the film after she went to Mexico on a Fulbright Scholarship in 2006.  I like that Which Way Home tells a part of the immigration story that is often untold, how it affects children.  This is a tough subject there were several scenes that brought tears to my eyes. I think this is especially difficult to watch for those who are parents.

Here in the U.S. we often hear about families being broken up when one member of the family is deported, but even before that happens, sometimes families are broken up when someone emigrates from one country to another country.  In the case of one of the children featured in the film, Kevin (14 yrs. old), from Honduras, his family was broken up by divorce.  He grew up in Honduras with the myth of the U.S. always in the back of his mind -a land of cities, like Manhattan, where he could work and earn a decent living in order to salir adelante.   Kevin explains that he loves his mother, but he left, in part, because his step-father didn't love him.  His traveling companion, Fito (age 13), who is also from the same town in Honduras didn't even tell his mother he was leaving, because "she was out partying."  One question Which Way Home raises is whether immigration is a catalyst for breaking families apart or, rather, is it a symptom of families that are already somewhat broken? The answer is not easy and it varies from person to person and family to family. 

The film also deals with the question of poverty.  There are children that leave in order to better provide for their families (earning much more for a similar amount of labor) as well as those that leave so there is one less mouth for their parents to feed at home, thus lessening the economic burden on their families.  It's terrible to think of a child in such a manner but even to a fourteen-year-old, the equation is an easy one.  At the same time the film features children who have been left behind that are emigrating to the U.S. in order to find their parents.  These were the parts that were most difficult to watch.  Then there are the street children, those who were abandoned at a young age and have lived in the street for as long as they can remember.  What a terrible thing it is that there are children that aren't loved or wanted.  I don't want to say more, but I encourage you to watch this film so as to begin to understand how complex the issue really is.  It is much too complicated to be decided based on some 30 second sound bites on the television or 30 minute programs on your favorite news radio station. The film itself barely scratches the surface of this complex, human, issue.

As I was watching the documentary I couldn't help but remember what a gentlemen said to me when I was living in a small farming town called Guerrero, Chih.  He told me that as a religious leader he always encouraged fathers and sons to stay in Mexico with their families and find a way to make it work.  In his opinion it was the best thing for the family.  At the same time, Guerrero had been plagued by a nine year drought, the agricultural jobs had for the most part literally dried up.  Local youth saw that they could make money by getting involved in the drug trade.  Even ten years ago, los narcos were a seething presence in those towns on the outskirts of the sierra, willing to throw money at anyone who wished to work for them.  I imagine that it has only gotten worse.  If you have time, please watch the film and let me know what you think.