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A Movie & a President

What does it mean when a movie tells the story better than the news media, and better than the president himself?

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What does it mean when a movie tells the story better than the news media, and better than the president himself?

"A man without a nation, Carlos Galindo, who speaks perfect English, is willing to risk death to come back to a nation which considers him a sort of a bastard son. He is treated as a criminal by law enforcement, but loved by his family, and particularly his son, a U.S.-born citizen who screams "please, come back, please come back," as his dad is taken away (and out of the country) in chains.

(Read Spanish Version / Lea versión en español: Una película y un presidente)

"A Better Life" is a movie that depicts the drama and challenges of immigration in 21st-century America. It does so with more courage and accuracy than the mainstream news media. And, without articulating it, the movie also denounces President Obama's many failures when it comes to immigration policy.

The movie's final line, although simple, is the most powerful: "Let's go home," says the main protagonist Carlos Galindo (played by Academy-Award nominated Demian Bichir). As he utters the line he is headed to the fence erected on the U.S.-Mexico border, seeking to get back just days after a forced deportation to Mexico.

With no papers, no coyotes this time (he knows the way well), he is determined to return to the United States. He calls it "home" because, well, it is.

His 14-year-old son is there; the truck with which he earned his living is there; his only friends left are there. Not in Mexico where he is now a foreigner after 20 or so years of absence.

A man without a nation, Carlos Galindo, who speaks perfect English, is willing to risk death to come back to a nation which considers him a sort of a bastard son. He is treated as a criminal by law enforcement, but loved by his family, and particularly his son, a U.S.-born citizen who screams "please, come back, please come back," as his dad is taken away (and out of the country) in chains.

It is the extreme drama of the actual separation of families happening across the United States and largely unreported by the news media. This fictional movie reminds us of the real-life stories.

A recent screening of the movie took place recently at the U.S. Department of Labor, where Secretary Hilda Solís, hosted more than 100 latino leaders to watch the masterpiece. Half of the audience was in tears at the end of the narrative.

It is that powerful. 

So powerful that, if you heed the emotions evoked, it becomes a powerful denunciation of the politicians that — out of political comfort and in the absence of Latino leaders willing to put themselves in harm's ways in defense of the vulnerable immigrant population — have kept the cruel immigration machine rolling, continuously crushing under its wheels the lives of old and young.

Hilda Solís should have allowed a question-and-answer period after the movie, as is done often when movie is shown in such a setting. 

The lack of opportunity to dialogue on the matter with the only Latina in President Obama's cabinet contributes to the eerie feeling that the current administration prefers to dodge the issues the movie illustrates so movingly.

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