Which way home comments

Another, Jose, a ten year old from El Salvador is abandoned by smugglers and ends up at a Mexican detention center. The most intriguing kid is a streetwise fourteen year old Honduran who has been sent by his mother to find work in New York City in order to send money back to her. The film is heartbreaking and the brave young kids are a testament to the yearning to survive of the human spirit and the cinematography is breathtaking.

Every American should watch Which Way Home to gain a perspective on the struggles of the immigrants so often denigrated here; it is an eye opener.

MartinTeller 12 January This documentary follows several children trying to get to America from Central American or southern Mexico, entirely on their own. 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. It seems to me these kids are better off sticking it out at home, at least until they're old enough to better fend for themselves.

Whatever the case, the material is very engaging as we get wrapped up in the plight of these young vagabonds. B24 25 August 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.

Nothing seems artificial. The story is spontaneous, dictated by real events rather than "directed. It takes a hard heart, however, to dismiss the simple premise that children ought not to be confronted with the perils of an adult world without the stabilizing presence and guidance of someone -- anyone -- able and willing to step in and help.

Think of it this way: If these children were from any place other than Mexico or Central America, would that premise be easier to accept? What if they were French, English, German, or American kids riding freight trains together with all manner of adult men of the most desperate kind?

It is not my intention to construct a straw man, but I find it reprehensible to hear as I so often do living on the Mexican border ignorant opinions chastising foreign people and governments for creating as it were the conditions that put children in such peril. The point should be to find ways of alleviating the suffering and preventing the deaths rather than creating draconian laws and policing borders. There are ways to do it without continuing to put up with the conditions we see in this film.

It is withal a beautifully constructed piece of cinema, a real must see. This documentary is very well put together. It is about several Central American children ages 8 to 14 who are heading to the United States.

They are alone, unsupervised, and riding illegally and at great risk on the tops of trains. They all have different stories. They are hoping to reunite with other family members up north, or they are running away from bad homes. Some were simply abandoned. Others were loved, and are eager to send money back home as soon as they find employment. The documentary follows the children and hears their stories as they migrate from town to town in Mexico, gradually heading north.

Such a journey might take days or weeks. Interestingly, crossing the border into the USA is the least of their worries; they are more concerned with the hazards of the Arizona desert. And so they should be, because part of the story covers those children returned in coffins after they were found dead.

I am really glad I saw this, but it is heartbreaking. It is unbelievable to imagine an eight-year-old child going hundreds of miles alone and having to beg for food Tragically, such stories are likely to continue, since the policies of Mexico and the United States are not changing. This documentary is not political, and does not address anything about how to handle the problem with immigration. It is merely a compelling collection of stories of children traveling alone.

Children who live in poverty and wretched conditions climb on to freight trains bound for the U. When they talk of the U. But on the inside these kids are filled with pain. To reach that dream, they go through hell. 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.

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. His pain is suppressed. Everything stops and there's just the bottomless grief to contend with. RC : Well, the unsung heroes in documentary filmmaking are the editors, of course, most of whom never get talked about.

I got to work with Pax Wassermann, who is extraordinary, and Madeleine Gavin is fantastic as well. I was very lucky to work with both of them. IDA : Who helped you bring your team together? Every element of the film is superbly executed. RC: That's one of the many great things about working with Mr. They're filmmakers, too; they're creative thinkers. They had a lot of ideas about whom to bring on board for graphics, composers, title and sound design.

They would come and sit in on the edit. I benefited greatly from their expertise. They've been making films a lot longer than I have. Whenever they made suggestions about people, it usually worked out really, really well. Madeleine cut the opening and started early on in the project, but had to move on to something else, making it necessary for us to find a full-time editor. Pax mentioned a composer, as did Mr. Mudd, so we were able to work with both James Lavino and Alberto Iglesias.

In terms of finding the Mexican crew, they were found by me going down there and meeting people at the beginning of this whole process. One person in particular who was so instrumental in Mexico was Alejandra Liceaga. I was also fortunate to be down there on a Fulbright scholarship. It helps to have something like that; it legitimizes you when you're dealing with bureaucracies or government agencies.

It gives credibility to your project. But you also need someone who knows the area, knows the people down there and how things work, makes meetings and gatherings possible, creates the access you need; Alejandra did that beautifully. A lot of the success of laying the groundwork in Mexico was due to her work, and she knows how grateful I am.

And, as I spoke about before, I had not only great cinematographers in Lorenzo and Eric; they were also great field producers. Even the drivers were fantastic, since they had to shadow us wherever we went and were totally reliable and provided safety and other things we needed along the way. Everyone's contribution was so important.

Yes, I produced and directed the film, but it was a collaboration and that collaboration has made it the film that it is. IDA : This is such a vital topic right now in this country. The current laws have been devastating for hundreds of thousands of US immigrants in the last decade.

RC : Immigration is such a many-tentacled issue, with so many interesting stories and angles. This isn't the kind of film that you just make and leave behind and move on to something else right away. There is a huge outreach push that must go along with it.

We want this to be used as a tool for immigration reform. The US Embassy in Mexico wants to create border tours for officials, and we want to get it to more Mexican officials throughout Latin America, many of whom are working towards reform.

Of course, we want the Obamas to see it, particularly their immigration policy people. The HBO broadcast will certainly get it out to the public and help immeasurably. Now our task is to raise money for this outreach effort, create a Web presence along with all the other tools we need.

International sales: Cactus Three, New York. Directed by Rebecca Cammisa. Also in Hot Docs. Running time: 83 MIN. Spanish, English dialogue Music By:. More From Our Brands.

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