Julie & Julia is a 2009 American comedy-drama that uses a creative lens to entwine and retell two true stories.  The film compares and contrasts Julie Powel, a young writer who, in the year 2002, lives in NY and works in a cubicle answering phone calls all day, and Julia Childs, an American housewife who moves with her husband who is assigned to work in France in the 1950’s. Initially bored at home, Julia makes history as she decides to spend her time learning to be a professional French cook. She eventually collaborates on the writing of a comprehensive cookbook, which also serves as the first French cookbook for American women. Julie goes through a similar transformation as she fills the emptiness of her life by writing a blog detailing her 365-day journey as she cooks her way through all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking.

Both of their stories are focused on their own personal identity. They are both confronted with a lack of purpose in their life and they fill their gap with cooking.  For them, cooking is filled with excitement and challenge and the more they become obsessed the more it defines them. When Julie begins to have a large following of readers and begins to feel overwhelmed by her full time job and self imposed cooking challenges she neglects her husband in favor of food. Eventually, she strikes a balance between the two and achieves success by identifying herself through both her cooking and her relationship with her husband. After forming a balanced identity Julie continues her undertaking and achieves publicity, fame, and monetary success once she is written about on the front page of the NY Times.

Julia also defines herself through food and as Julia’s husband mentions, if he would like to see his wife he must enter the kitchen. She works very hard to become a proper chief and later spends many years of her life writing her comprehensive cookbook. When her efforts appear for naught, as the publishers believe her book is too expansive to be printed, she becomes devastated. She identified herself through her work and with the apparent failure she seemed to be without an identity once again. Fortunately, with the encouragement of her supportive husband, she moved on and continued her culinary pursuits in other manners. Eventually, Julia was contacted by a different publisher and offered an even sweeter deal. They published her masterpiece and Julia found her identity through food in both her private and the public world.

While at times the movie seemed a bit discontinuous, as the scenes oscillated between the two plots and some ideas, sometimes somewhat irrelevant, were introduced but not developed, overall the plots were paralleled very nicely and imbued with both entertainment and suspense. The juxtaposition of conceptually linked scenes between the stories highlighted the similarities between the ways Julie & Julia struggled, developed, and addressed their own personal identities. Food is the medium through which each understands their identity, but it the plot it serves other roles as well.

The movie transforms food into more then a hobby, job, or even the defining feature of their identities, as food becomes a tool for connection. Not only do characters bond while working in the kitchen, eating together at a table, or by talking about food, but also they bond over space and time via food. As Julie states, she can feel Julia’s presence in the kitchen with her, and can learn from not only as a chief, but also as a moral role model. Even though the end of the movie questions Julia’s role in this one sided relationship, it also points out that the bond is nonetheless still fully existent for Julie. Food becomes more then just a purpose, but also an identity, a way in which they can bond to others, and a way in which they can make their mark on the world against all other odds.

The actors did a fantastic job, and truly seemed like people, although in a couple scenes Julia enthusiastic personality made her appear a bit unrealistic.  In both tribute and criticism, the movie left the viewers wanting to know more about their stories, as it interested viewers in the main story although it did not seem to tie together all the different parts conclusively. Because the movie was telling two true stories, at points it seemed a bit like a documentary and compounded with a few seemingly irrelevant scenes the movie became longer then necessary.  While the movie lacked a true dramatic climax, it still left a very positive impression on its viewers. I would therefore rate the movie as a 3.5 and maybe even a 4 out of 5 for all those who have the time to watch it fully.

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.

It is commonly known that many laborers who pick crops for a living do not enjoy the best conditions. When it comes to food, people generally think of American-grown crops as being harvested by 20-something year old illegal immigrants, working 9 to 5 and making minimum wage. However, director U. Roberto Romano ofThe Harvest/La Cosecha (2011) paints a very different picture. He follows illegal immigrants and their families as they look for work, and labor in fields all across America. Here, crop-pickers like Zulema and Perla are underage and underpaid, working 14 hour days, 7 days a week, and barely clearing 65$ a week. They begin working the field as early as 7 years old, and frequently miss school due to their families’ reliance on the income and the migrant nature of crop picking.

The Harvest focuses on what little these families have and the never-ending cycle of poverty that they face. These families are living in limbo as illegal immigrants—at any moment, one small thing could go wrong and their entire world comes crumbling down. This is very well depicted in the documentary, especially with Perla, whose father gets sick and cannot work. Because of this, she loses any hope for stability in her life as well as for starting high school on time. In this aspect, the documentary is successful in evoking true empathy from the viewer. Romano does not overstate their predicaments; he tells it like it is. The struggles and life conditions that these families face are unheard of to most Americans, and the fact they are happening in our country is shocking.

The air of hopelessness is combatted by these young immigrants’ hopefulness. Despite the hardships they face, they all hope for a better life for themselves and their children. Although graduating high school and obtaining a stable job seems like a far cry from their current predicament, all of the young immigrants in the documentary remain optimistic. However, such goals are not impossible, especially in America. That being said, “The Harvest” highlights how awful these families’ previous living conditions must have been if they risked so much to get to America and live such an impoverished life.

One thing noticeably missing from this documentary was the perspective of the field owner’s. Aside from the fact that the employers are barely paying their employees minimum wage, many of them are obviously underage. I felt that it would have been interesting for the director to incorporate what the field owners think about essentially cheating people from a livelihood, or if they even think about that at all. Perhaps their indifference towards the hardships of their workers and families would serve to evoke more sympathy from the viewers. Maybe The Harvest would have even led to reform in the crop picking industry, or even just have raised more awareness of the plight of these families than it did with one perspective. I cannot help but notice how much stronger and more affecting the documentary would have been had the audience actually seen the forces of opposition that the fieldworkers face day in and day out.

U. Roberto Romano’s The Harvest easily relates to the major themes of immigration, identity and food that are central to The Peopling of NYC. For one, it forces us to raise questions about the origins of our food. One especially moving scene in the documentary showed a woman who picked crops for a living dismayed about the high price they were being sold for at a market—much more than she makes per pound or can afford. After seeing The Harvest it’s hard not to imagine to fruits or vegetables that we eat being picked by a poor immigrant. And, after seeing that particular scene, it becomes clear what a problem this poses to our society. It also serves as an implicit call for immigration reform, which would greatly help these struggling families. Their immigrant identity and illegal status does not give their employers the right to treat them in ways that are illegal. Additionally, the fact that this documentary was depicted through both the eyes of the adults and their kids shows what large an impact this has on the whole family. Sadly enough, some of these immigrant children may be barred from finding their own identity, not one of a fieldworker’s, because of the poor financial cycle they are stuck in. The Harvest is a movie that anyone can relate to, even New Yorkers who are typically so far removed from the Midwest and its food industry.

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart” – Cesar Chavez.

In the movie Cesar Chavez, Michael Peña, plays the role of the American labor leader that the movie is named after. Cesar Chavez – which is directed by Diego Luna – tells the story of the famous civil rights leader and labor organizer who was torn between his duties as a husband and father and his commitment to securing a living wage for farm workers. The film begins with Chavez having a conversation with a plantation worker surrounded by his wife and kids, where we see that he plans to move away from Los Angeles so that he can have a more direct connection with the farm workers he wants to help. The movie then covers the first 10 years of the United Farm Workers and their struggles, beginning with the grape strike in 1965. The boycott that followed the grape strike gained national support and helped to win the first UFW union contracts in 1970. The movie goes on to show the role of Cesar Chavez, his family and Dolores Huerta working with others to start the UFW.

Right from the beginning of this film, the audience can see the dedication and passion that Chavez had for this cause. His decision to move back to the farms especially shows the dedication he had. The fast-paced depiction of his decision and the way it was placed right in the beginning of the movie gave the whole issue at hand an overall sense of urgency. In addition, the way in which Diego Luna decided to shoot the scenes – almost like a documentary- and the lifelike performances on display gave me the feeling of actually being there watching as the action unfolds mere inches from me. I found myself completely absorbed into the movie and Chavez’s story. Throughout the film we see Chavez embrace the non-violent approach as he came up against greed and prejudice in his struggle to bring dignity to the people he once was like. We see not only the struggles of working on a farm but also the struggle of being an immigrant with a family to feed. One character that Chavez interviewed – whose children also works on the farms – shared that himself and others wanted better for their children but they also have to be able to feed their family. This shows how difficult it was for immigrants to stand up for their rights when they knew that their family’s wellbeing was at risk. Chavez’s struggle to unionize these exploited farm workers — his long marches, his hunger strike — create moments throughout the film where it is nearly impossible to not feel moved.

Although this movie does not focus entirely on all the themes we have discussed in class, it does touch on several such as social change, immigration, identity, and to a certain extend food. In terms of social change I would say that that would be the overall theme for the movie. Right from the start of the film, the audience can see that Chavez has to go up against the greed and prejudice the existed in the society that governed the farm workers. Thanks to the naturalistic performances and the documentary like film style, I was able to almost experience how poor the working conditions were for the braceros. I saw how the workers suffered from racism and brutality – both of which are social problems- at the hands of their employers and local Californians. The movie also encompasses the theme of immigration considering the majority of the characters, if not all, are immigrants. The role that the immigrants had and still have in our community directly connects to the theme of food. During the movie it is impossible to ignore the fact that the only workers on the farms are immigrants. We see the connection that immigrants had to the food supply in California. Taking all these themes into consideration, I also believe that the movie shows the struggles the farm workers have in finding their own identities both as individuals and as a subculture in the United States.

Overall I believe the movie was really good but also lacked certain details that would have added to the storyline. Due to my personal knowledge of Chavez, I felt like the movie was told in a very simplified way but was told in an accurate manner regardless. The details that were put into the filming and the acting definitely added to the already moving story.

My Rating: ★★★★☆