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___________________________________________REVIEWS
3-12-2004 - AUSTIN CHRONICLE
9-23-2004 - SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS
12-10-2004 - EINSIDERS.COM
12-31-2004 - MOUNTAIN EXPRESS
2-10-2005 - APPLE.COM/PRO
5-18-2005 - FILM THREAT
5-18-2005 - NEW YORK TIMES
3-18-2005 - TIME OUT NEW YORK
5-18-2005 - VILLAGE VOICE
3-12-2004
AUSTIN CHRONICLE – “Walk 120 Miles in My Shoes”
Rachel Proctor May
Ladies and gentlemen, this year's Golden Cojones award goes to first-time
documentarian Tommy Davis, who walked 120 miles to film four of the
thousands of Mexicans who illegally enter the U.S. on foot each year.
In shooting Mojados: Through the Night, Davis ate what the four men ate
(increasingly green tortillas, while they lasted), drank what they drank
(water scavenged from cattle tubs, when they could find it), slept among
the cacti, and schlepped 80 pounds of gear.
Nevertheless, he managed to keep his spirits up, at least most of the
time.
"At one point, I knew we were walking in a circle, but I didn't have a
compass to prove it," Davis recalls. "Finally I just sat down on the
ground and told them I needed a break."
Another challenge was that Davis knew neither Spanish nor his subjects
well. After spending about six weeks asking around for a group of migrants
heading out of the small Mexican town where he was staying, he finally met
one the day before they left. "Oso" was the man's nickname. He was the
veteran of several trips north, and he made Davis prove his grit by
climbing a mountain with him. He also taught Davis the rules of the
desert.
"You can't take a knife or anything that might be used against you," he
explains. "And if anyone gets hurt and can't go on, they're left behind."
Davis met the other three men the next day. Their unfamiliarity with Davis
and one another (plus their trying circumstances) meant the trip was not
exactly rolling in witty banter. In addition, the men didn't want Davis to
film some emotional moments, like their tearful departures from their
families. However, through its stark, simple depiction of the crossing
experience, Mojados still sends a powerful message.
"It just shows we have no clue what people will do for a job," Davis says.
He recalls meeting a 12-year-old who had made it to Arizona but lost his
family in the process.
"I asked where he was going, and he said, 'Florida,'" Davis says. "It was
110 degrees that day, and he was ready to just start walking."
9-23-2004
SAN ANTONIO EXPRES NEWS - FILM TELLS OF MIGRANTS’ JOURNEY
Jessica Belasco
When Tommy Davis, 25, told people he wanted to accompany a group of
migrants traveling illegally from Mexico into the United States so he
could film a documentary, they told him there was no way he could pull it
off.
He was broke. He wasn't fluent in Spanish. And he couldn't find migrants
who would trust him enough to let him accompany them north.
But he raised money, moved to Michoacan, Mexico, and on Valentine's Day
2003, set off with four men for a grueling 110-mile journey across the
border.
The result is "Mojados: Through the Night," a 65-minute documentary about
a group of Mexicans who hope to cross the border to find jobs so they can
send money to their families back home.
It will be shown along with the other top films from the San Antonio
Underground Film Festival, where it won grand prize this summer, at Alamo
Drafthouse Westlakes.
Davis and the four men, who are identified in the film only by their
nicknames, spent 10 days climbing through barbed wire, eating moldy
tortillas and dodging the Border Patrol.
Davis, who grew up in McAllen, made the film to dispel the ignorance and
prejudice he encountered from Americans who resented illegal migrants.
"People make comments like, 'They just come here to steal our jobs,'" he
said. "I was upset, and I just wanted to figure out something I could do."
Besides winning awards at U.S. film festivals, "Mojados" has been well
received in Mexico.
The trip had its positive side for Davis.
"They would offer to hold the camera, they would let me drink their
water," he said. "It was a group mentality. It was humbling to be taken in
like that and trusted."
jbelasco@express-news.net
12-10-2004
EINSIDERS.COM – INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
Jonathan W. Hickman
Things must be bad in Mexico. Life has to be very hard.
Guapo nicknamed "Handsome" just wants to use his carpentry skills to
export his hand-crafted furniture to the United States. Oso, they call him
"The Bear," in his 50s is the oldest of the group traveling illegally to
the United States using the money he earns to buy land back in Mexico.
Yet, another traveler is Tigre who spends most of his time each year
picking vegetables in the US returning home for Christmas with money and
gifts for his family. Finally, Viejo also known as "Old Man" decides to
make the grueling trip across the Rio Grande and the dangerous desert even
though in the past he has resisted due to an injured leg.
"Mojados: Through the Night" is a documentary that chronicles the
difficult journey of these four men as they make their way to America with
little on their backs, less in their stomachs, and hope in their hearts.
It is the hope that pushes them forward. It is the American dream that may
cost them their lives.
Filmmaker Tommy Davis captures the harrowing trek by going with the four
Mexican citizens as they swim across the Rio Grande and walk across the
Texas desert. It is shockingly real. And once you see this film you will
have a newfound appreciation for the plight of Mexican migrant workers
and, perhaps, a rational fear about the safety of our borders.
Davis tracks the progress of Hansome, The Bear, Tigre, and Old Man, step
for step starting in Mexico where four are shown with their impoverished
families. The depiction appears to be honest revealing that jobs in Mexico
are scarce and those that are available don't provide the opportunities
that even the lowest paying jobs offer in America. The risk associated
with the walk seems worth the trouble at first, but as the hours and the
days pass, we learn quickly why some 2000 people die each year attempting
to make the hike.
The film contains archived news reports of the capture of illegal
immigrants as well as reports of the discovery of dead immigrants in the
desert. Interviews with Texas ranchers are helpful to set the context for
the immigration problem. On the base level, one rancher complains about
his insurance costs associated with cattle getting out due to fence damage
caused by illegal immigrants. Another rancher tells us that the Mexican
citizens leave plastic bags in the desert that are eaten by his livestock
that eventually kills the animal. These are but of few of the mundane
problems.
It is the trip on foot that is astounding made even more difficult because
amazingly, the guide employed by three of the men refuses to carry a map
or compass out of fear that he will be prosecuted more stringently if
caught. This causes them to, at times, walk in circles in the dark. And,
sadly, they don't prepare properly for such a trek only carrying a little
water and food amounting to about 2 days worth of dried meat and
tortillas. When the water runs out, they scavenge for more, often drinking
from contaminated sources in puddles randomly located in the desert. It is
as disturbing as it is disgusting.
We never really see filmmaker Tommy Davis in the film although we hear his
voice at times. The immigrants even help him when he hops over barbed wire
fencing with them and they offer him some of the water they find. "Tastes
like cool aid," one of them remarks. I imagined that Davis took along the
right amount of gear to make the trip but out of fear of him being
prosecuted was unable to help his documentary subjects. This made me think
of those Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom episodes where the lion is shown
violently killing a deer (or is it an antelope?). The filmmakers don't
intervene. The same could be said of the non-governmental organizations
attempting (in vain) to help the starving masses in Africa and filming
young children malnourished and at death's door.
Sometimes all that can be done is to watch.
Davis doesn't really take a position on what can be done to either stem
the tide of illegal immigration or to safeguard those seeking entry into
this country. He just lets his camera capture the four honest appearing
men as they gut it out hoping to make their way to the Promised Land. So
many never make it, and watching "Mojados" you wonder whether the story
will end badly.
Incidentally, the subtitle for "Mojados" is said to translate into
"wetback" a derogatory term I attempt not to use. I asked a friend what
she thought it might mean, and she told me that maybe it had to do with
the fact that Mexican immigrants work so hard that their backs are always
wet with perspiration. Whether or not that is the origin of the term it is
a somewhat redeeming way of thinking of it.
Truly, I can think of nothing more admirable than putting in a hard day's
labor to provide for one's family's basic needs. It seems a pity that the
reward for making such an incredible journey to America is only the
promise of a little money and many long days soaked with sweat.
January 2005
Mountain Express (Asheville, NC) – REVIEW
Ken Hanke
Mojados: Through the Night
Extremely powerful and very tight documentary (63 minutes) by first-time
filmmaker Tommy Davis, who spent 10 days following the journey of four
illegal immigrants into the United States as they searched for nothing
more or less than to be exploited as cheap labor. Unflinchingly real and
never glamorous, the film presents a harrowing picture of these lives in a
way rarely seen.
February 2005
Apple.com/pro - CROSSING BORDERS: TOMMY DAVIS
Dustin Driver
The water is the color and consistency of chocolate milk, but they dip the
jugs in anyway. Guapo takes one of them, sniffs the water inside, then
takes a sip. He squints into the desert, nods and hands the jug to Tigre.
“It’s good — you can’t taste the dirt or anything,” he says.
Filmmaker Tommy Davis took the jug next, setting his video camera down to
take a drink.
In the winter of 2003 Davis followed four men across the United
States-Mexico border for his first documentary, “Mojados, Into The Night.”
He marched with them for four days and nights across 120 miles of desert,
85 pounds of batteries and videotapes strapped to his back. “I wanted to
show what these people go through to get into our country,” he says. “I’d
never done a documentary before, but I knew it was something I had to do.”
Davis used a Power Mac and Final Cut Pro to splice the footage together.
He released the film in March 2004 at the South by Southwest Film Festival
in Austin, where it won the Audience Award. It took the Best Documentary
award at the Arizona International Film Festival the next month.
Closing the Borders
In 1995 the U.S. Border Patrol began concentrating its efforts in
metropolitan centers along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican migrants,
called “Mojados” or “wetbacks,” were forced to cross the border in the
desert. Since that year more than 2,000 of them have died trying to enter
the U.S.
Davis was raised near the border in McAllen, Texas. He grew up with
immigrants, some of them illegal, and knew that crossing the desert was
often fatal. When Davis attended college on the East Coast, he realized
that not many Americans knew about the struggle. He decided to make
“Mojados” to show them.
Davis took a job as a telemarketer to earn money for the project. He made
regular trips to the Texas-Mexico border, hoping to find a group of
migrants who would let him film their journey. He had no luck and in 2003
he moved to Cheran, Mexico. The 24-year-old spoke little Spanish and had
nowhere to stay.
Earning Trust
”I had to live with them to earn their trust, so I moved down there and
waited it out,” he says. “I didn’t know Spanish, but I found people who
knew English in the village. I lived with a group of priests and worked in
the seminary.”
Davis was prepared to stay in Mexico for up to a year to find migrants who
would trust him, but within a few months he met Oso, the man who would
lead him across the border.
A farmer in his 50s, Oso had been crossing the border annually for 20
years. He worked six to eight months at a time in the U.S., earning money
to buy farmland in Mexico. “He told me, ‘Yeah, you can come if you want,
if you can hack it,’” says Davis. Oso devised a test for Davis, a daylong
trek through the Mexican mountains. Davis kept up and Oso agreed to take
him through the desert.
The pair had two days to recover from their mountain trek before they set
off. Davis met the rest of his traveling companions on the first day of
the trip: Tigre, a 22 year-old who has shuttled between the U.S. and
Mexico every year since he was 12; Guapo, a 20-year-old who had never made
the trip; and Viejo, a 26-year-old carpenter with a bad leg. Each planned
to work in the U.S. for seven or eight months, then return to Mexico to
help his family.
”They had all agreed to let me come along, but we had never met before
that day,” says Davis. “It was pretty tense. They didn’t know me and they
didn’t want to face what they were doing. They didn’t want to face the
fact that they were leaving their families for so long.”
The five hopped into a taxi, then caught a bus to the Mexican border town
of Reynosa. From there they took another taxi into the desert, crossed the
Rio Grande and headed into the Texas desert. Davis, Oso, Tigre, Guapo and
Viejo spent the next four days together, shared moldy tortillas, drank
pond water and faced dehydration in the desert.
The four learned to trust Davis, at times shouldering his equipment when
he was unable to carry it, hefting the hulking backpack over tall barbed
wire fences. When the four days had passed, Davis had earned the title “El
Gringo Mojado.”
Beginnings
Davis had some experience with video when he headed into the desert — he
made his first short film in high school. “I had an old VHS camera,” he
says. “We used it to make fake political commercials for extra credit. We
had to edit the videos with two VCRs hooked up to a TV. That was the only
way we could do anything; everything was pretty much what we could get for
free.”
High tuition fees cut film school out of Davis’ life. Instead, he landed a
scholarship to study business and biology at George Washington University.
Luckily, he was able to mix some editing into his curriculum. He took a
series of summer classes at the University of Southern California, where
he learned basic editing techniques. He also interned for Artisan
Pictures, Jersey Films and Miramax Films.
Purchasing Power
When it came time to edit “Mojados,” Davis decided to go with Apple.
“Everybody told me to go with Final Cut Pro,” he says. “And everyone in
the industry knows the program. It’s a community thing. If I didn’t know
how to do something I could jump on a message board or call Apple for
help, no problem.”
Davis used an Apple loan to purchase a Power Mac, Final Cut Pro and all
the software he used to make “Mojados.” “I wouldn’t have been able to do
anything without that loan,” he says.
Learning Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro proved easy to learn. “I had no experience with the
program,” he says. “I just followed the guides — it was pretty self
explanatory and the books that Apple provides are very easy to read and
understand.” The filmmaker used footage from his early short films —
originally edited with a pair of VCRs — to learn the program. He rescued
several films that would have been relegated to a storage bin, adding them
to his permanent portfolio.
Davis had about 60 hours of video footage to sort through when he sat down
to edit “Mojados.” Final Cut Pro turned his task from daunting to
possible. The program quickly archived the footage and Davis’ Power Mac
accessed it quickly and efficiently. Davis spliced the scenes together and
added subtitles where needed. He used his .Mac account to post video clips
for his friends to review and critique.
All of the footage in “Mojados” is raw — Davis didn’t use any color
correction. Even so, he was impressed by the Final Cut Pro color tools.
“The tools were easy to learn and could generate results similar to a
sophisticated transfer house,” he says. “That does not cease to amaze me.”
”Mojados” was ready for film festivals in just a few months.
”Mojados” is finished, but Davis is still using and learning Final Cut
Pro. “The program is very intuitive,” he says. “The developers seem to
anticipate the features editors will want to use in the next version. It’s
not really a hassle to learn the new features; it’s more of a chance to
streamline the time you spend editing.”
5-18-2005
FILM THREAT – Tommy Davis: Sneaking Across Texas
Phil Hall
The plight of illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States is not a new
subject for films, but the documentary Mojados: Through the Night is
unique in that Texas filmmaker Tommy Davis actually joined a quartet of
Mexicans in their dangerous journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas
desert. Davis, making his first feature-length film, found himself
climbing barbed wire fences, sleeping outdoors in thunderstorms, hiding
from the U.S. Border Patrol and traveling endless stretches of open land
with barely enough food or water. In short, he lived the life of an
illegal alien.
The compelling and dramatic “Mojados: Through the Night” has its New York
theatrical premiere on May 18. Film Threat caught up with Davis as he was
preparing to take his film to the Big Apple.
There have been many films and TV specials following the migration of
illegal aliens up from Mexico into the US. Why did you decide to pursue a
subject that has been covered frequently?
Style and content. I had been told a bit about a major network news crew
that had tried this very thing the summer before I had enough cash to go –
but they ended up ending it early when they got tired and called in their
support team to pick them up. There was another film that traced South
Americans all their way up to the Rio Grande – which is a whole other
story – the treatment of migrants through Mexico is extreme and as unjust
as their treatment in the U.S. These other films did not matter to me.
From what I have seen, excluding the South American documentary,
everything else was a news piece polished for a traditional audience. I
wanted to go and make a documentary that I would enjoy – I tried to throw
it back to the early work of the Maysles and Pennebaker, but as I cut the
film I realized I needed to add in narration – but even that I tried to do
in a different form.
This journey is not planned and it’s not thought out, so I decided early
on to ditch the glide cam set up, forget about white balancing and we’ll
just see what the shotgun mic can pick up. The flow of the camera work and
coverage had to match that of the journey.
The film’s press notes alluded to your working odd jobs to finance the
film. What exactly did you do to finance the film? And how much did the
production cost?
I ended up working on political campaigns because it was “seasonal” work
and I could disappear for a while down into Mexico and be back in time for
a new campaign. That’s what I did during the shooting, to edit, well I had
to teach myself, so I moved to Athens, GA – found an apartment for $225 a
month and I worked odd jobs around Athens and then I’d stay up all night
editing. I didn’t know anyone there so it was just me in a room with a
sleeping bag and a computer trying to learn how to edit. In real dollars I
haven’t figured out how much “Mojados” cost – I did have to get an Apple
loan to get the computer and it took me about a year to save the money for
a camera – but then came the fests when I realized you needed postcards,
tons of dubs and all sorts of formats, so it’s been expensive.
It is obvious that the men you followed would’ve been arrested and
deported if the U.S. Border Patrol caught them. But what would’ve happened
to you if the Border Patrol came upon the crossing party when you were
filming them?
Well I had met with the head of the U.S.B.P. Tucson’s sector and he knew
what I was up to and he wished me luck. He told me I’d likely be arrested
if caught and they would do a small investigation to be sure I was not
smuggling the people – eventually, I would be released and fined for not
crossing at a point of entry – but it was a double standard on the journey
because everyone was constantly worried about getting caught and I knew
that the worst for me was a fine and for them, they would have to endure
all of this again.
The film has played extensively on the festival circuit. How did you go
about choosing your festival strategy?
No strategy – pretty much trial by fire. I submitted a 90 minute cut, sans
narration to Sundance – SXSW called in November and asked if I would
premiere there, my first thought was “…this is cool so don’t be straight
forward and tell them you haven’t decided…”, so I said no I can’t do that
until I hear back from Sundance. Well, I don’t think that was the way to
play the game, so SXSW called me after the Sundance lineup was announced
and asked if I’d play and I said yes, but then I was only screened after
the opening weekend and given two slots instead of the typical three – so
I think I should have agreed to premiere at their first offer. Following
SXSW it was mainly invites, I couldn’t always afford the entry fees so I
wouldn’t apply – for international, well I just didn’t even apply because
it was too expensive.
How were you able to use the festival circuit to raise awareness in your
film? And did you connect with potential distributors at the festivals?
At SXSW I was approached by a couple distributors for theatrical and DVD,
but I was leery about their interest and at the end of the day they
weren’t serious. The main offers for TV distribution and DVD have come
from random DVD’s that are circulating…I’d just get a call and we proceed
from there. I remember hearing the advice, don’t let your movie leak out,
but for me that was the only way to get it seen: I’d give a copy to anyone
and in a way it’s paid off.
Your film is opening in New York, albeit without having a theatrical
distributor. What happened in your attempts to get theatrical release for
the film? And will you be self-distributing it in other cities?
No, to be honest, when the Pioneer called I was surprised, but I knew it
was justified given the word of mouth in NY. When I was offered the New
York screening I was thrilled so my friends and other people in NY can see
the movie, but it’s a lot of work. If a theater calls I’ll send it to them
and I’ve set up enough stuff that I can just mail them a package but I
don’t have the time to seek out theaters. I guess we’ll just see, after
the Pioneer put it up on their site, I got a call from Minneapolis and it
will play there after NY and possibly Austin – I also realize it’ll be out
on DVD the last week of July so the window for a theatrical release is
quickly closing. It’s really great to put it out there for a week – but
I’d like to spend time on my next film.
What became of the four men you documented in the film?
That’s what everyone wants to know. Well in that final scene the owner of
the safehouse told me I had to leave and that he would be taking them up
to Austin so that’s when I exited the doc. And everything else is pieced
together. I know Tigre and Oso continue to go back between Michoacan and
the US, but the whereabouts of Guapo and Viejo are unknown. Oso has told
me that a lot of migrants have seen it and it’s kind of like this cult
film in the migrant communities and in parts of Mexico. But they want to
be left alone though, when they’re here they’d like to just blend in.
Though we joked during the walk that in 20 years we’ll do a follow up and
someone in Arizona suggested the title, “Mojados 2: Fuck It We’re
Staying”.
What’s your next project?
On the doc side, it’s “Genes and Janes” a kind of a cross between the
style of Errol Morris and Carlos Marcovich with my own spin. If the funds
all come through it’s going to be a 90 minute romp of a feature that
examines the discovery of DNA via the work of Dr. James Watson, but the
story will focus on the other things going on for a 24 year old genius
i.e. - girls, beer, parties and a little bit of science when there’s time.
It’s a different version of the scientific process – you have a kid in a
race with other top scientists around the world, yet he gets that life is
meant to be fun so at times when he and his partners would be on the verge
of a great breakthrough they’d leave the lab in favor of girl watching at
a pub.
The other project is a script – “This is How it Happened” that is a cross
between “Stand by Me” and “Mojados.” It’s a violent coming of age road
movie as two friends leave their homes in Mexico and try to maSpke it to
the border – it’s essentially everything I saw in the two years it took me
to make Mojados – as seen through the eyes of two boys.
5-18-2005
NEW YORK TIMES – Pilgrimage Across the Border That Tempts but Dodges Fate
By DANA STEVENS
Mojados: Through the Night," which starts a weeklong run today at the Two
Boots Pioneer Theater in the East Village, manages to capture firsthand
the danger, fatigue and sheer tedium of an arduous illegal border crossing
from Mexico without ever becoming tedious itself.
The 24-year-old director of the digital video documentary, a Texas native
named Tommy Davis, persuaded Mexicans from the state of Michoacan to let
him accompany them on their 120-mile journey through the desert to a safe
house in Falfurrias, Tex., in February 2003. Why these men, the mojados of
the title (a term that translates loosely to the English slur wetbacks)
risked exposure by consenting to be filmed is unclear. But to protect
their privacy, they are known only by their nicknames: Oso (Bear), Tigre
(Tiger), Guapo (Handsome) and his brother-in-law Viejo (Old Man). Two of
them are trying to make the trip north for the first time; the others have
made the pilgrimage annually for years doing seasonal work, sending back
money to their families.
On their nearly six-day journey through the desert, the men carried little
more than a meager supply of bread and tortillas, two gallons of water,
and (on Mr. Davis's part) an 80-pound camera rig. When their water ran
out, they drank from cattle troughs or polluted ponds; by night, they
slept huddled beneath trees, listening for the approach of ranchers or
border patrol officers. Like the barren South Texas landscape the men
traverse, the film is stark and austere, with long stretches of silence as
the men trudge onward, scaling cattle fences and trying to orient
themselves in the featureless desert. In lighter moments, they joke with
one another (or the filmmaker, whom they sometimes affectionately call
"the gringo mojado") while sharing their moldy tortillas or a final,
precious can of beer.
Mr. Davis provides his own (at times overly folksy) narration, telling us
that since a 1994 federal law stepped up immigration patrols in urban
centers, people like these mojados have been forced to reroute through the
desert, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths from exposure, dehydration and
injury in the last 10 years. The film, which runs just over an hour,
concludes with a clip from a local newscast detailing one such recent
death, leaving us with the feeling that if the four men from Michoacan
were able to escape the same fate, it was only by the sheerest of luck.
May 19-25, 2005 – TIME OUT NY – REVIEW
Raven Snook
Mojados: through the night
The illegal crossing of Mexican immigrants is a highly charged topic. But
no matter what side of the border you’re on politically, Tommy Davis’s
gritty documentary captivates by showing the all-too-human side of a
polarizing issue.
Armed with a handheld camera, the director – a gringo – makes the
treacherous trip to Texas with a quartet of migrant laborers. When they
climb fences, drink muddy water, eat moldy tortillas and dash across
highways, he does as well. Davis is careful not to interfere with his
fellow travelers, which forces him to fill in a lot of blanks via
voiceover narration. But despite this necessary shortcut, Mojados (slang
analogous to “wetbacks”) is quietly powerful. The four emerge as Mexican
everymen: funny, macho and courageous, and willing to risk dehydration,
deportation and death in order to provide for their families back home.
Davis also interpolates brief interviews with stateside ranchers and
border-patrol agents, who talk about finding in the desert the bodies of
immigrants who didn’t make it. But the four protagonists put faces on an
otherwise anonymous population. As they near the end of their journey it’s
impossible not to wonder, Is all this worth it just to land some menial
job? The answer of the thousands of Mexican who do it every year would
invariably be yes.
5-18-2005
VILLAGE VOICE – REVIEW
BEN KENIGSBERG
MOJADOS: THROUGH THE NIGHT
Directed by Tommy Davis
May 18 through 24, Two Boots Pioneer
A lean, effective slice of agitprop enlivened with a New Wave voice-over
and an unusual emotional directness, Mojados follows four Mexican laborers
on their 120-mile journey across and beyond the Texas line—a common trek
made considerably more difficult since the U.S. Border Patrol implemented
a new crackdown strategy in 1995. With officers concentrated in urban
areas, migrants are now forced to hike through punishing conditions in the
desert. Vérité footage of the men scrounging for puddle water, parceling
their moldy bread, and scrambling over barbwire fences (often in night
vision) is contrasted with black-and-white interviews of ranchers and
patrol officers, who not unsympathetically recount stories of
border-crossing attempts gone foul. Any documentary this intimate can't
help but call attention to the ethics involved in making it; lone-man crew
Tommy Davis carried his own food and water during the filming, and one
wonders whether he was ever prevailed upon to share. But Davis strives to
keep himself out of the film, favoring a harrowing yet compassionate
you-are-there aesthetic that underscores the hardship of the migrant
workers' struggles.
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