Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary (2005)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Dreadfully Boring

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I thought this was a good documentary because it focused on immigrants from other Central American countries and not Mexico. In the U.S. we hear mostly about Mexican immigrants crossing the border. It was interesting to follow the journey of the men from Honduras. And there were many likable protagonists in the documentary. I appreciated the periodic monologues from those "leads" (to the camera) about their situation. It was also helpful that the names of the countries were indicated on the images when they were crossing borders. One could see how easy it was to cross certain borders. The description of the methods that they used to get around in certain countries and to cross the Rio Grande was well done. I did not expect so much detail. The priest offered compelling commentary and one of his anecdotes was extremely moving. I knew that Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador were quite poor, but I did not realize that there were that many people making the long trek to try to get into the US because of lack of work. Overall the personal stories were very effective and the explanation of Mexico's role in this was explained well.

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.

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.

Very illuminating documentary on the truth behind immigrants smuggling themselves into the United States. Dispels a lot of the myths perpetuated by right wing racists who disguise their thinly veiled hatred of foreigners behind patriotism and vigilantism.Several people are followed from Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and the other central American countries as they make the extremely dangerous trek to what they somewhat naively perceive as the "American Dream". These people brave limb amputating trains, dangerous rivers, racist and sadistic police to try and make it to the promised land. These people are incredibly brave. Every commonly believed truth is turned on its head, that these people are "thieves and rapists" and that they are a burden to the American economy, collecting benefits (and even voting, according to one redneck) and contributing nothing. The truth is the exact opposite, these people are merely trying to better their lives for themselves and their families in countries that are kept in abject poverty mostly due to American economic policies. We see it from both perspectives, the immigrants and the vigilantes and law enforcement trying to keep them out. It is revealed later in the film that the truth is that the immigrants work hard once they get in the united states, doing work that many Americans would not want to do, paying into social security (billions) and never collecting. They pay taxes on everything and receive little benefit from it. Another fascinating fact is that many central American countries have a 20% to 40% of their GNP come from money sent back from immigrant workers.And finally, we see that "murderers and rapists" indeed do get in the country, yet these are psycho gangs given green cards by the U.S. in exchange for fighting the sandanistas! It's so fascinating that almost without fail, whatever the common perception about U.S. foreign policy (defenders of democracy, freedom) is almost invariably the exact opposite in reality.Check out this documentary is you are curious about the truth.