Resumen de Crossing Mexico on La Bestia: the Central American migrant experience in the documentary films "Which Way Home and Who Is Dayani Cristal?"

Nanci Buiza

• español

  Este artículo analiza dos documentales sobre la ola reciente de inmigrantes centroamericanos que han intentado llegar a los Estados Unidos por México sobre los trenes de carga conocidos como la Bestia. Estas películas — Which Way Home (2009 Which Way Home. 2009. Directed by R. Cammisa. New York: Docurama.[Google Scholar]) de Rebecca Cammisa y Who Is Dayani Cristal? (2013 Who Is Dayani Cristal? 2013. Directed by M. Silver. New York: Kino Lorber. [Google Scholar]) de Marc Silver — revelan la dimensión humana de la migración centroamericana y sacan a la luz las crudas realidades que los inmigrantes experimentan en el camino. Aunque sean películas muy logradas, su enfoque en los dramas humanos y los peligros inmediatos del viaje deja a un lado los problemas geopolíticos y las estructuras de violencia que han generado la necesidad de migrar. Sostengo que esto no es un defecto sino una virtud, ya que lo que estas películas pretenden destacar no es tanto lo político como lo trágico, esa realidad inescrutable y opaca que tiene que ver con la esperanza y el sufrimiento humano. Al buscar esto, las dos películas recuperan aspectos de la experiencia del inmigrante que han sido suprimidas por la cacofonía de nuestra cultura política.

• English

  This article examines two documentaries about the recent wave of Central American migrants who have attempted to reach the US by crossing Mexico atop the freight trains known as la Bestia. These films — Which Way Home (2009 Which Way Home. 2009. Directed by R. Cammisa. New York: Docurama.) by Rebecca Cammisa, and Who Is Dayani Cristal? (2013 Who Is Dayani Cristal? 2013. Directed by M. Silver. New York: Kino Lorber.) by Marc Silver — reveal the human dimension of the Central American migration and bring to light the harsh realities that migrants encounter en route. Although these films are highly accomplished, their focus on the human dramas and immediate hazards of the journey gives little weight to the broader geopolitical issues and structural violence that have created the urgency to migrate. I contend that this is not a fault, but rather a virtue. For ultimately what these films aim to highlight is not so much the political as the tragic, that inscrutable and murky reality of human yearning and suffering. In doing so, these films help to recover aspects of the migrant experience that have been lost amid the cacophony of our present political culture.