Educational Media Reviews Online

Los Trabajadores /The Workers tells the stories of workers at an Austin, Texas day labor site. Through the eyes of Ramón Castillo Aparicio, a middle-aged father of two from Mexico and Juan Castillo Gutiérrez, a young man from Nicaragua, we see both the struggles of illegal immigrants who want to become productive members of American society, and the impact that these immigrants have on an American city’s economic development.

The film tells a very personal story of two immigrant workers and their place in American society. Ramón came to the United States illegally after not being able to find work in Mexico. Ramón’s wife and two daughters speak to the viewer from Mexico, and Ramón’s story is told to us from both the side of an illegal worker in America, and the loving father and husband. Ramón goes home on a visit and later dies from an illness on his way back over the border to the United States. Juan wants nothing more that to become an American citizen and works hard to live the American dream even though, the end of the film deports has him deported back to Nicaragua.

“We build the buildings, we do the hardest jobs, and still they don’t want us”, Juan explains to the viewer his frustration in finding acceptance from the white population of Austin, Texas. Voted one of the most livable cities in the US in the late 1990’s, as well as one of the best places for business in the same time period, Austin’s growth depends a great deal on the Chicano immigrant population for day labor to work in the construction industry in the city. The film chronicles the city’s plans to relocate the day labor site from the downtown area to a residential neighborhood, and examines the discrimination of the neighborhood population against the immigrants, even though many residents depend on them for day labor. The laborers dealt with changing the resident’s conceptions about who they were, and in the end the day labor program was a success.

The video quality is a little rough, but the statement the film has overcomes the technical quality. This film tells the story of the Chicano in a Texas city very well. Highly recommended for courses in economics, urban growth, Chicano studies, or for people interested in the role of immigrant workers in America.

Awards
• International Documentary Association’s David L. Wolper Award
• Audience Award: SXSW Film Festival
• First Place, Documentary, Next Frame International Travelling Film Festival
• Humanities Award, Great Plains Film Fest
• First Place Documentary Student, Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival

Additional Information:
The film site: www.daylabormovie.com

King, Michael. Los Trabajadores/The Workers. The Austin Chronicle “Screens”. March 16, 2001. vol 20, no. 29. (http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-03-16/screens_roundup6.html)

Macor, Alison. Documentaries draw viewer to underside of American experience. The Austin American Statesman, March 14, 2001, Lifestyle section, p. E3.

Macor, Alison, John DeFore, and Joe O’Connell. SXSW Film Reviews. The Austin American Statesman, March 14, 2001, Lifestyle section, p. E4.