Although illegal immigration is no longer quite the hot-button issue it was earlier in the 2008 election cycle, it's still an important subject. Angelo Mancuso's documentary American Harvest peripherally touches on politics, but the primary focus here is on the human dimension. Interviews with produce workers (including both recently arrived migrant laborers and second generation citizens in the fields) are combined with comments from U.S. farmers and businessmen (whose operations depend on low-wage immigrant labor), as well as insights from activists (engaged in assisting migrant newcomers), who talk about widespread misconceptions concerning the contributions of undocumented workers to the American economy. Following Mancuso from Florida to New York, with a sidetrip to the Mexican border, American Harvest presents an often poignant portrait of the circumstances faced by many immigrant workers, closing with a powerful scene of an elderly Native American man advising Mexicans abandoned by a smuggler near his Arizona reservation—until a U.S. border agent arrives and abruptly orders filming to stop. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)
American Harvest
(2008) 100 min. DVD: $45: public libraries; $95: high schools; $195: colleges & universities. White Hot Films. PPR. Volume 23, Issue 6
American Harvest
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