Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get so desperate that you would take every cent you could raise, beg, and borrow to get out of your own country and flee to another? With your children? Having to trust people who might leave you for dead anywhere along the way?
That is the all too real situation explored in the documentary “Roads on Fire.” The issue of asylum for immigrants coming to the United States is approached from several angles: the migrants themselves, the “Asesors,” or human smugglers, who get them headed toward or into the country, and the people here who support them with food, shelter, and legal assistance. The film skips back and forth between these three.
It begins with a statement by Ronald Reagan as he prepared to leave the White House in 1989: “Anyone, from any corner of the earth, can come to live in America and become an American.” At that time there were more than 19 million refugees across the globe. Reagan was already suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and might not have realized that the policies of his administration had helped set the stage for the desperate millions who would flee poverty, tyranny and criminality for the relative safety of the US in the coming decades.
We meet one of the Asesors, a man who himself is a refugee from Venezuela. He lives in Necocli, a Columbian town on the border with Venezuela, and talks about the people from the region, as well as “Chinese” and “Arabs” who he helps on their way to fulfill their dream: living in America. We meet some of the people he gathers up, and learn a bit of their stories. They face an expensive and daunting journey including through the “Darien Gap,” a deadly stretch of jungle and rivers where thieves, rapists, and killers lurk.
Next we meet Maria and her children. They made that perilous journey to the US, crossing from Mexico at El Paso. She is now in New York City and is seeking asylum based on the domestic threats and attacks by her husband back in Ecuador. We learn of her humiliation, and fear, not only for herself, but also for her children.
And lastly, we learn about the efforts of those already here or native-born who work to care for those who arrive with nothing and knowing no one. These are the ones who find clothing, food, housing, community, and guide the immigrants through the complex and frustrating path to asylum. These are the social workers, the resource coordinators, the legal experts, and the neighborhood priest – all of whom work to help these strangers from different lands.
Director/photographer Nathaniel Lezra (“Don’t Leave Me Behind”) has given us a complex and compassionate glimpse into the struggles of all the people involved in the enterprise of immigration – an enterprise which today involves over 43 million refugees – people forced from their home due to “persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order” (UNHRC).
Runtime: One hour, 58 minutes
Availability: Now available in NYC
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