The Sixth Section

Alex Rivera's documentary looks at Grupo Unión, one of the ad hoc associations of Mexican immigrants--both legal and illegal--who collect funds to support special projects back in their native towns. The Grupo, consisting of a loose assembly of men who have made Newburgh, NY their North American home, have been responsible for a wide range of undertakings in their Mexican hometown of Boqueron, Puebla, from the construction of a baseball stadium and the acquisition of a used ambulance for the town clinic to the purchase of instruments for the local band. What distinguishes the film--which employs the usual panoply of (subtitled) interviews, onsite footage, and maps--from many other documentaries is the consummate editing that moves the viewer swiftly but cleanly through the material, happily avoiding the longueurs that frequently afflict such projects. (The title, incidentally, refers to the fact that Boqueron is divided into five parts, and the members of the Grupo think of themselves as a sixth neighborhood that just happens to be 3,000 miles away.) The Sixth Section succeeds as both an affecting, though not mawkish, portrait of the yearning these immigrants feel for their home and a skillful depiction of an innovative form of socioeconomic activism. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)