Documentary

De l'autre côté

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Chantal Akerman

The story is old as the hills, yet every day more timely. And every day more terrible. Sometimes poor people, risking their very lives, leave everything behind in an attempt to survive, to live elsewhere. But they’re not wanted elsewhere. And if they are wanted it’s for their manpower. In jobs that no one wants to work. So some will pay for others to do those jobs. Pay, yes, but not much. In this particular film, elsewhere is North America and the poor are mostly Mexicans. For years, they passed through San Diego. But the INS , using cutting edge technologies invented during the war in Vietnam and which came to fruition during the Gulf War, have managed to quell the flow of illegals in this part of California, deporting them to the desert and mountain regions of Arizona. They figured that the hardships and dangers, the cold and the heat would stop hem altogether. You can’t stop someone who’s hungry. But you fear him. Fear the other, fear his filth, fear the disease he may be bringing in. Fear invasion. But never fear to kill him.

Filmography