El Norte- Havlyn Ehrich

 This film shows the harsh life that unfortunately many immigrants face. Thieves, border patrol, scandals, you name it. These people leave behind their lives and sacrifice what they have in hopes of achieving a higher quality of life. This movie and many accounts of immigrant life showcase the many trials and tribulations of getting into the United States. They may come to the US seeking better economic opportunities, education, safety, and freedom. They may be able to find better-paying jobs, access to quality healthcare, and education for themselves and their children. They may also be able to build a better life for themselves and their families. However, this does not come without facing many struggles: language, economic status, skills, education, discrimination, housing, etc. As with any immigrant, if one is coming to the States illegally, then their lives become consumed with struggles to navigate complex legal systems and face the risk of deportation if they do not have proper documentation. The US has a reputation for being a land of opportunity and a place where anyone can achieve success through hard work, the reality is often more complex. But how true is that? Immigrants may struggle to find employment that matches their skills and qualifications, experience difficulty accessing healthcare, and face discrimination in housing, education, and other areas of life. Families of immigrants see those who traveled to the US as making it into the ‘holy land’ and are living the good life. Consequently, it is often not as ideal as they imagine it to be.  Some immigrants may be viewed as economic, political, and social threats. People see them as using up resources and creating plenty of negative stereotypes and discrimination towards them. People feel they use up economic resources and create political and social persuasion and unjust, non-American effects on society. The side that these people do not see about immigrants can be seen in this movie. People risk their lives to simply just try and receive a higher quality way of living. Any human should have that right, but how they get to it severely depends. This film, in my opinion, did a nice job bring about the political side of Latin America without making the movie a 'political' movie. It showed the trials and tribulations these people face in order to live in a land that we are already blessed to be in.



Comments

  1. Catherine BolzendahlMarch 6, 2023 at 3:34 PM

    Nice image! I think it echoes the points you are making in your post. Not only do immigrants typically find a country that is very different from what they expected but also the US has a very contradictory view on immigration. We depend on immigration to fuel much of our economy but vilify those who want a better path. How does the scarcity mentality of inequality in the US potentially contribute to this (maybe connect to Norma Rae?).

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