Which Way Home Review
Which Way Home Feature
- WHICH WAY HOME (DVD MOVIE)
Nominated for a 2010 Academy Award,
Which Way Home, through its shocking depictions of neglected immigrant children struggling to sneak into America by train, manages to charm viewers into concern for its audacious young stars. Director Rebecca Cammisa's choice to focus almost exclusively on interviews with the train-hopping children, who range in age from roughly 8 to 18, makes this documentary infinitely more touching and effective. One gets a more well-rounded impression of the socioeconomic problem here; for every feeling of liberation the children experience, there are dangers lurking around the corner, several of which come to fruition during the filming period covered. For example, Kevin, a 14-year-old Honduran boy, and his pal, Yurico, a.k.a. "The Dog," a 17-year-old from Chiapas, occupy the bulk of the film footage, as the two boys and their cohorts ride "The Beast" through various territories. But as they skirt some sketchy situations, they can't help but tell stories of less lucky children who die on the trains en route to the United States. Additionally, tracing the aftereffects of their journey offers a less than ideal outcome for both boys. Many of the children in
Which Way Home, like José from El Salvador, have experienced abandonment by their parents, who left in search of income and provided little in the way of role models. A few key scenes, like that filmed in the Guatemalan Consul where national officials interview boys before deporting them back to their home countries, and the scene showing Grupos Beta, a grassroots group that travels by van alongside the trains to provide free supplies and medical care to these children, are inspiring. Still, one comes to realize that the problem is overwhelming, as viewers gain access to the filthy flophouses, like House of Migrants, that are packed wall to wall with minors running away from home to find work. However, Cammisa captures a certain hobo humor here, which permeates the film's sad subject matter, as the boys tell jokes, lounge around with each other in the most brotherly ways, and care for each other in the absence of their parents. While
Which Way Home chronicles a problem that demands attention, it does so in a touching manner, leaving its star characters' dignities intact as they confess their motivations, namely devout family loyalty. --
Trinie Dalton
Traversing more than 1450 miles upcountry Mexican freight trains routinely are boarded by migrants hoping to reach America. Among the thousands who ride the trains many are children traveling alone. They come from all over Mexico and Central America risking everything for the chance of a better life. Academy Award-® nominee WHICH WAY HOME follows some of these unaccompanied children as they make the long and treacherous voyage to the U.S. border. Some like Olga and Freddy venture out in search of distant relatives. Others like Kevin hope to find work to support their families at home. Often traveling for months or even years at a time these courageous and determined children each have stories of hope and resilience disappointment and sorrow. Chronicling the harrowing journey of thousands of migrant children WHICH WAY HOME illuminates a powerfully human side of immigration. DVD includes Two Version of the Feature-Length Film: Spanish Language and Spanish with English
