The US state is famous for its opportunities, its “helping” functions, positive, but it is not easy to get there. The world is big, you can settle somewhere in Europe, there are a lot of immigrants in Brussels, then why the United States?
The story told in the film is a reworked version of personal experiences partly by directors Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastian Vazquez themselves, partly by those they know or have asked.
Rojas and Vasquez have known each other for about twenty years since working for the Venezuelan branch of HBO, and decided to combine the amount of migration experience into a single story.
Diego Hernandez, one of the drama's main characters, hails from Venezuela like Rojas and Vasquez. In his situation there are elements from the real life of the authors and their acquaintances. One Chilean filmmaker, for example, told them that he avoids transiting the US when he has to travel to Europe. Or the story of Diego with the application for a talent visa (Extraordinary Ability Visa) in real life happened with Alejandro Rojas.
But, as the directors noted, the film shows a softened version of events, the toughest stories remained outside the frame.
The story begins with the voiceover of a radio DJ. He announced that today is February 15, 2019 and today he will be talking about Donald Trump, who is going to order the beginning of construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. It's going to cost about six billion dollars to build, but he's very good at money. If he said so, then the construction is really necessary. A half-hearted, half-serious statement and how to treat it is not exactly known.
In any case, it sets the tone and attitude towards those who seek to enter the United States. The desire to change the country of residence from these words will not cease to exist, but the precipitate will remain - you can come, but are you waiting for the next one?
In such films, where there is no chain of events, transitions from one scene to another, which are interconnected by many actors and their actions, and there is only one or two (as here) main characters, where everything is built on dialogue, the bet should go to the artistic embodiment and play of actors.
That's right here. Closed spaces in the form of a taxi cabin and an airplane, a narrow corridor and interrogation rooms, gray walls, cold lights, close-ups showing nervous tics and sweat drops on the face, convey the stress that has invaded the body of immigrants.
The exact opposite is the airport. At the airport, its employees have incredible power over the entrances, and they use it. Their faces are dispassionate, they ask tactless questions, at some point outside the walls of the interrogation room, the sounds of gunshots sound, and there is a feeling that immigrants are political criminals and psychological torture is used against them.
The actors themselves, who play the main roles, know perfectly well what their heroes are going through. Alberto Ammann, who played Diego Hernandez, is originally from Argentina but lives in Madrid. He knows about migration, changing the country and starting a career abroad from his own experience. Bruna Kuzi, who played the role of Diego’s partner Elena Pames, from Barcelona, she knows his culture and it was easy for her to enter the role of a girl breaking away from her hometown.
Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastian Vazquez brought the emotional background to the fore. Everything that Diego and Elena had to go through at the U.S. immigration office at New York Airport had an emotional impact on them. As a result, the obvious remained clear - changing the country of residence is a stressful process based on separation from relatives and friends, changing the usual way of life and environment, adapting to a new culture and its features. Diego and Elena understand this when immigration officers attack them with sharp questions regarding both professional skills and intimate life. It's just the background.
An interesting story that captures the nightmare of arriving in the United States, when it matters where a person comes from. Involuntarily you feel that a person has a price tag and a stigma of quality - and these concepts are highlighted here in the most negative sense.