U. Roberto Romano’s film The Harvest/La Cosecha bring the viewer into the world of migrant workers in the United States.  We follow the lives of Zulema Lopez, Perla Sanchez, and Victor Huapilla, who are all children that travel around the country doing strenuous farm work with their families to earn enough money to get by.  All of these children have no choice but to work because of the difficult financial situation that their parents are in, and the physical and emotional toll that this work takes on them is revealed through their explanations of their daily lives.  There are so many obstacles that these children and their families face each day to keep afloat, and their financial stability rests in their power to persevere through even the worst conditions.  This film aims to raise awareness for the deplorable conditions that thousands of migrant workers face as they attempt to make a living in the United States.

This film does and excellent job of humanizing a group of people that is not commonly held in high regard.  One may not realize how normal these people are, and how they blend into our society so seamlessly so that we may not ever notice just how different their lives are.  The two girls featured in the film, Zulema Lopez and Perla Sanchez, have been raised in the United States, speak perfect English, attend public school when possible, and are very much involved with American culture.  There is a myth that migrant workers are usually Mexican immigrants who speak little to no English and have no understanding of American culture and values, but this film works to dispel that idea by presenting the viewer with examples of “normal” workers who could also be considered completely “normal” Latin-American children.  Many viewers who may have an another image in their head of what a typical migrant worker looks and sounds like may have been very surprised to see what these people are actually like.

Another issue that the film does a great job representing is that danger involved with working these jobs.  Many of us eat the produce that these workers pick each day without even realizing what really goes into getting the food from the plant to the market shelf.  One example that we are told about is when Victor Huapilla explains how one day he was laying down the plastic that is used for sowing the crops, and the chemicals that were on plastic actually began to melt his skin off.  Earlier in the film, Zulema talks about how she has injured herself with the shears used to cut roots away from crops she was picking.  Both of these examples highlight the day to day dangers that these workers face, and the instability of their health and their work.  For example, if a worker were to get seriously hurt on the job, they would then be unable to work for a few weeks, months or maybe even permanently.  If that did happen, they would then not be able to help their families make money to survive.  Romano’s film does an excellent job of bring these issues to light and helping the viewer to really understand the troubles these people face.

All of the themes discussed in this film directly tie into what we have discussed in class this semester.  It is very clear that migrant work is a niche job, as a disproportional amount of these workers are Mexican, and the field as a whole is largely influenced by Mexican culture.  Another theme we discussed in class is the idea of health issues among specific populations of immigrants.  It is really clear from this documentary that obesity and accidents are common in this population because of the nature of their work and their low income.

Overall, I rate this film 4.5/5 – as it did a really wonderful job illustrating the issues of this population of people and giving the viewer a much clearer understanding of their lives.