Golden Venture

At a time when illegal immigration is a hot-button issue in American politics, Peter Cohn's documentary is of intrinsic interest, focusing as it does on the treatment of the survivors of the Golden Venture, an aging freighter that went aground off the New York coast in June, 1993 while attempting to smuggle over 200 Chinese people onto shore. But it's affecting and instructive even apart from the contemporary topical considerations. Golden Venture investigates the socioeconomic problems in China that encouraged so many to pay the high cost (approximately $30,000) of passage, while also dealing with the criminal gangs that controlled the smuggling trade, and braving the hardships of the voyage itself. But the major interest here lies in the film's situating of the event historically, noting that it occurred shortly after the bombing of the World Trade Center, when concerns about illegal entries into the U.S. were becoming acute—a circumstance that helps explain if not condone the harsh treatment accorded the survivors, many of whom were quickly deported (a number have since returned illegally), while others were detained for years in INS facilities. The documentary humanizes the material by concentrating on the stories of four immigrants—three who are now in the U.S. in legal limbo and one who returned to China—and on the efforts of some American supporters to secure the survivors' release from detention, provide them with aid, and lead the fight to win them legal status. A compelling and timely portrait of human courage, resilience, and compassion, set against a backdrop of bigotry, fear, and political infighting, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)