Which Way Home

Back in early May, our online editor Mariela Rosario wrote a stellar review of the documentary Which Way Home as part of our Tribeca Film Festival coverage. I remember being bummed that I missed the premiere. That is, until I found out it would air on TV at a later point in time.

As great as all the (fictionalized) cinematic accounts about the immigration experience (La Misma Luna, Emilio, Sin Nombre) are, it’s nice to see the story told from the perspective of real people. Directed by Rebecca Cammisa, the doc focuses on the unaccompanied children who make up 5 percent of the thousands of people who migrate north each year. With an unfaltering sense of hope and optimism, these kids make the grueling journey from Mexico to the U.S. atop a freight train they call “The Beast,” each for different reasons that don’t necessarily revolve around money. Some of them are running away—like Kevin, the victim of an abusive stepfather—and others are running toward something, as in the case of Jairo, who seeks a better education. Along the way, they face exploitation by smugglers, dehydration, police abuse and other dangers that are difficult to fathom.

Some of them make it. Some of them don’t. But all of them remind us what it truly means to be brave and literally chase after your dreams.

Watch the TV broadcast premiere of Which Way Home on HBO as part of their Documentary Films Series on Monday, August 24 at 9 p.m. EST.