Which Way Home (2007)

  This year's Academy Awards are over but I still have a bunch in my Netflix queue from years past.  This one got nominated way back in 2009 as part of my very first Oscar marathon attempt on this blog.  Fortunately, there are only a couple of these left and that's mostly because they weren't available until months after the ceremony.

This documentary follows a handful of child migrants making their way from Central America to the United States.  They range in ages from 9 to 17 and they are traveling alone for the majority of the journey, riding on the tops of freight trains from Guatemala and Honduras, through Mexico, and hopefully across the border.  This is a dangerous route for full-grown adults, much less children, and many die along the way. 

Their motivations vary from child to child.  Some have family working in the States that they have not seen in years, some are hoping to be adopted after their own parents have abandoned them, and others plan to work and send money back.  They have no idea what the United States actually looks like, beyond what they see in movies and television, and no concept of the distance between major cities.  Their hope and naivety make their stories that much more tragic.

The dangers they face are very real.  Every year, children are crushed under train wheels, robbed and violated by human traffickers, and killed by exposure to the elements.  They risk all of that just to be deported back to their home countries either by Mexican authorities or American. 

No matter your political leanings on the subject of illegal immigration, I think everyone can agree that the thought of children traveling thousands of miles alone is both terrifying and depressing.  The documentarian, Rebecca Cammisa, used a Fulbright Scholar grant in order to follow these children, which means the camera work is as bare bones as it gets.  I can't say that I enjoyed the experience but it was certainly eye-opening.