This film contains the stories of many different families who are affected by the immigration of many Mexicans into the United States. With intimate windows into the lives of the immigrants and those they left behind, this film depicts the difficult complexities intertwined in issues of immigration, U.S. foreign policy and the importance of family structures. From a hesitant son's decision to break away from the family farm, to an abandoned wife's newfound self-sufficiency, this is an eyeopening peek into what immigration really means to immigrants and their families. Anyone with opinions about immigration and international economic policies will learn from this movie.
2 Reviews
Powerful documentary about contemporary US-Mexico Border policy and reality
patrick-32731 March 2007
Just saw "Letters from the Other Side" being screened by CHIRLA, and was really blown away by the production quality and richness of the messages. The film offers a fresh angle on the impacts of transnational migration (esp. rural to urban migration), focusing on the material and emotional impacts on families whose members are split across the US-Mexico Border.
Particularly poignant are the 'video letters' which the director helps share between wives and husbands, mothers and sons, sisters and brothers, as well as with US immigration officials. This film should be noted for the relationships of trust that the film maker established with several families, which let her into their homes and personal moments of their lives.
Altogether, this film should be seen by all interested in US immigration policy. Studying the psychological toll of families driven across the Border by trade liberalization policy (NAFTA), it tallies the human toll of the Border counted in the growing number of lives lost in dessert crossing, distorted hopes for a better life, abandoned agrarian livelihoods and in many other dimensions. The film can even be considered "longitudinal" data on migration, since families' lives are followed during critical periods where they make life altering decisions, and where children grow into young adults. Make sure you see this!
Particularly poignant are the 'video letters' which the director helps share between wives and husbands, mothers and sons, sisters and brothers, as well as with US immigration officials. This film should be noted for the relationships of trust that the film maker established with several families, which let her into their homes and personal moments of their lives.
Altogether, this film should be seen by all interested in US immigration policy. Studying the psychological toll of families driven across the Border by trade liberalization policy (NAFTA), it tallies the human toll of the Border counted in the growing number of lives lost in dessert crossing, distorted hopes for a better life, abandoned agrarian livelihoods and in many other dimensions. The film can even be considered "longitudinal" data on migration, since families' lives are followed during critical periods where they make life altering decisions, and where children grow into young adults. Make sure you see this!
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