Review of Golden Venture

Golden Venture is a riveting movie that reveals the immense hardships that illegal Chinese immigrants have to undergo in order to just have a chance at living in the United States. This life-changing journey has pitted these people with more difficult obstacles and ordeals than most people in the United States will ever face in their entire lives. The dangerous treks through the landscapes of Asia, the long and arduous journey and the inhumane and horrendous living conditions on the ship, and the final struggle to swim onto US shore are all what the 286 people had to suffer through. While some immigrants were granted asylum many were deported but a few, after years of fighting for their cases, were granted a release. This film spotlights the tragedy of these people who are simply just trying to seek a better life in America.

The production team, with their carefully selected primary accounts, personal interviews, and scenes from past video recordings, has created a very emotional film that highlights these people’s toils and appeals the viewer causing a sympathetic response. Such scenes include people starving in overcrowded and filthy spaces on smuggling ships, people desperately trying to reach US soil by diving into rough and freezing waters, and EMTs carrying away bodies of those that drowned in their attempt to reach shore. These scenes, along with many others, truly show the amount of desperation people have for leaving their countries and trying to better their own lives and the lives of their families.

Despite the 276 people that made it onto “the land of the free”, they were all immediately detained in prison for an extended period of time. To make bad matters worse, these people came into the US during a time of increase demand of keeping track of those immigrating into the country. Although many were deported back to China, a few were successful in their battle to achieve a right to remain in the US. With clips of both the defendants and the government agencies trying to deport these people, we can gauge just how strong the anti-immigration sentiment was.  Although many were in deep protest, a significant number of others stood up to defend these people of their right’s to search for a better lifestyle.

This documentary does an excellent job in showing the kinds of struggles any illegal immigrant may face while trying to enter the US. It showcases both the challenges of the journey and the new challenges they face once in the United States. In addition, this film also allows the viewer to more closely measure how strongly the US felt about unaccounted for immigrants. Using strong emotional appeals, this film is both very informative and truly captivating. It gives both solid numerical and augments the film overall with personal interviews and accounts.

Review of Sentenced Home

“And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free” is a line from patriotic song “God Bless the USA” written by Lee Greenwood. These words are probably something that most Americans would not have a problem saying. There are, however, some that cannot. In fact, a significant number of people in the United States cannot truly call themselves American and do not truly know if they are free because they lack official documentation on their immigration status. Despite the United States being on of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, it has very strict immigration and border laws that restrict the flow of immigrants in the country and expel those that are in illegal residence.

In Sentenced Home, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 has brought upon three non-citizen Cambodians much despair and struggle into their already difficult lives. Revolving around three men, Kim Ho Ma, Loeun Lun, and Many Uch, the movie details the effects of the immigration laws, specifically causing the first two to be deported back to Cambodia while the last must always live in fear of suddenly being deported by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services.

The controversy involved with these three men and all other undocumented Cambodians is that under the new laws enacted, those who were convicted of a felony, even if the sentence has been fully carried out, are subject to possible deportation by the INS. This injustice is a serious matter that the documentary crew tries to bring into people’s attention. Interviewing these men and following them back to Cambodia has allowed the creators of this documentary to create an emotional film that tries to highlight the economic and emotional stresses that deportation causes to people, especially those that have already assimilated into the American culture and lifestyle. Throwing somebody into back into their respective country of origin, moving that person from a highly developed nation to one that is still developing, or forcing a person to move into a “foreign” nation where they are unfamiliar with the local customs is life-altering and is a severe decrease in their standard of living.

Although this movie is obvious in trying to emphasize the injustices of the immigration laws enacted in 1996, there is not to say that there are not any valid reasons for these laws. During this time, the U.S. was very sensitive about the documentation of those entering the United States. Facing terrorist incidents committed by those who were in the U.S. illegally, many people were hesitant and even resistant in allowing foreigners to immigrate to the US. The US’s strict immigration laws and border policies, while designed to protect the nation from external threats trying to breach in, have also in effect failed to protect those residing in the country, whether documented or not. Many of these people have lived in America for probably at least ten to twenty years and are most likely to be proud to have done so. So then why can’t they know they are free?