H2 Worker

For decades, Caribbean workers armed with H2 temporary worker visas could harvest sugarcane in the U.S. for six months at a time. Stephanie Black's 1990 documentary, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, notes that some 10,000 individuals were annually granted H2s for this work. Using guerilla filmmaking techniques, Black follows a group of men from Jamaica to Florida, where they strap on protective gear (hard hats, shin guards, and gloves), grab machetes, and commence cutting. One worker notes that those who can't keep up are sent home, while a farm superintendent acknowledges, “If we didn't have the Jamaicans, we couldn't harvest, because the local people wouldn't do it.” A former cutter, who arrived in 1941, describes the living quarters as “a prison”—his employers would later face charges, although the overcrowded barracks of the late 1980s don't seem like much of an improvement. Combining interviews with labor representatives and politicians (including then-New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley and the late former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley) together with archival footage and excerpts from letters to relatives, H2 Worker offers a telling indictment of the guest worker program, and while Florida has since switched to mechanical harvesters, terrible conditions still persist elsewhere (such as Dominican plantations). DVD extras include a new audio commentary by Black (who notes that she shot the film covertly because “access to the workers was prohibited by the sugar industry”) and an update on the guest worker program. Highly recommended. [Note: this title is also available with public performance rights for $250 from Valley Filmworks (www.lifeanddebt.org/h2worker).] Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)