Golden Venture documents the journeys of a few Chinese immigrants as they seek prosperity in America. Although they each bought passage on the Golden Venture, each story varies; some migrants were able to receive amnesty in America while some failed to ever live in the United States. This documentary follows the story of these immigrants from the beginning of their journey in China to years after the beaching of the Golden Venture.

The landing of the Golden Venture on Rockaway Beach proved to be an extremely polarizing event, leading to outcry from people in favor of amnesty as well as from those who thought the migrants should be immediately deported. This debate proved to even conflict members of the government, splitting public officials based upon their opinions on the subject. President Clinton’s inability to quickly make a decision shows how complicated the situation was. Despite any personal opinions on the subject, Clinton must also account for the ramifications that his decision would have on future immigration. While the Chinese migrants were initially held in jail, they were set free because of a presidential pardon in 1997.

Although the documentary showed both sides of the argument, I believe that the filmmakers had a slight bias in favor of the migrants staying in America. This is evident because the film spends much more time showing the perspective of the legal counsel of the Chinese immigrants than the arguments of people advocating deportation. This is not meant to be a criticism of the movie because most documentaries display a bias towards one side of the story they are covering. In fact, I thought this film was extremely well put together despite its obvious low budget. The movie was well directed, and I think the use of footage from the time of the incident as well as interviews years later really helped the viewers understand how the immigrants were treated.