New Movie Blog

In light of the summer blockbuster season, I have decided to launch a more mainstream movie site:

Sixteen Millimeters

This site will contain movie news, reviews, and trailers.

De Nadie (Border Crossing)

“De Nadie (Border Crossing)” is a Mexican documentary directed by Tin Dirdamal that follows several illegal immigrants from Central America into the United States. The film focuses primarily on the dangers that they have to endure. According to the film the greatest of these dangers is the country of Mexico and is described as “the immigrant’s nightmare.”



According to the film about 56 percent of the population in Central America lives below the poverty line, as a result of this over 200 thousand of these people take the risk of making the journey north.

In Mexico these migrants are considered illegal and if they are discovered by Mexican immigration officials or police they are deported just like in the United States. In some cases the migrants are abused and sometimes robbed by these officials.

One of the immigrants describes the police as “thieves with permits.” Unfortunately for fear of being caught and deported, many of the crimes committed by the police go unreported. The film estimates that about 51 percent of the total crimes against illegal migrants in Mexico are committed by police officials.

The fastest way to travel into the United States through Mexico is by train, which according to the migrants interviewed in the film poses a great danger. One of the dangers is being seriously injured or even killed when trying to jump on the train.

According to the migrants another risk the train presents is being thrown off by gang members or police officials.

One of the women interviewed, Maria Jesus Flores, is from Honduras. During her interviews she reveals that she left her four children and her husband behind to migrate north into the United States. In her journey she is robbed, raped and left without an identity as she tries to journey north for a better life.

Despite all of the dangers and horrible circumstances there is hope. In La Patrona, a village in the Mexican state of Veracruz, people get together to provide the passing migrants on top of the trains with food, water, and even clothing.

The documentary keeps track of the various migrants that were interviewed. Some of them make it to the United States and are able to get jobs, others get as far as Mexico City where they are deported back to their countries of origin, others, like Maria, are never heard from again.

Traffic

"Traffic" is an alarming glimpse into the very dangerous and powerful illegal drug trade industry.



The Academy Award-winning film directed by Steven Soderbergh provides a very complex look into the world of drug smuggling. It focuses primarily on the losing battle between American and Mexican drug enforcement and the different drug cartels, or organizations that work with high-ranking Mexican officials to bring in drugs into the United States.

The main reason the film gives for the losing battle is the difference in funding between the drug enforcement agencies and the multi-billion dollar drug cartels themselves.

In 2007, the Drug Enforcement Agency's yearly budget was about $2.3 billion according to its website. This is in comparison to the $23 billion in revenue that Mexican drug cartels make yearly, according to the Washington Post.

Also according to the Washington Post, "Mexican drug cartels generate more revenue than at least 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies. The U.S. government's highest estimate of cartel revenue tops that of Merck, Deere and Halliburton."

The problem of course is that drug cartels concentrate their resources on transporting and distributing their product in the United States. Their investment completely depends on successfully accomplishing this. As shown above drug enforcement budgets cannot begin to compare to that of the drug cartels.

When everything is added up, it is no surprise who comes out on top.