Immigration and the U.S. Border Crisis

De nadie (No One)

[DVD-1421]. 2005. 80 min.

Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival, 2006; Best Feature Documentary, Mexican Academy Awards 2006.

The impoverished Central Americans who leave their countries in hopes of a better life in the United States have a rough road ahead of them. De Nadie shows how, during their perilous 2500-mile journey through Mexico, they put their last money, dignity, health and life on the line. Mexican filmmaker Tin Dirdamal follows a number of refugees in a South-Mexican refugee centre, from where they hitch illegal rides on freight trains to the northern border. Apart from the Mexican immigration service and police, the illegal aliens are threatened by the security service of the railroad companies, the criminal La Mara Salvatrucha gang and the train itself. 16-year-old Jos from Honduras lost an arm when he fell under a train; young Adolfo witnessed the murder of his parents by La Mara. Protagonist Maria, whose house was destroyed in Hurricane Mitch, barely survived an encounter with the violent gang. Contorted with fear and worries, her face speaks volumes. Director Dirdamal visits Maria's relatives who stayed behind in a Honduran slum. The horror stories of refugees, filmed with a handheld camera, are alternated with interviews with employees of the railroad, the immigration service and a relief organisation, and complemented by factual background information. The only hope along the way comes from a volunteer organisation near the railroad tracks that hands out food to passing refugees, as they board a train towards an uncertain future.