March 18, 2005

Brazilian Novela About Immigration

Illegal immigration is a huge issue here in the US. But how does it look from the other side? In Brazil there is a novela playing right now which attempts to show the life of Brazilian illegals in the US--or trying to get to the US. Below is a still from a scene of the novela Am�rica, as well as a description of the scene. The description gives us a pretty good idea of how immigration to the US is seen by many Brazilians.

America - Novela - Rede Globo

Humiliating situation

This photo, made by the director of Am�rica� himself, Jayme Monjardim, inside shows Sol (Deborah Secco) hidden in the panel of an automobile, being found by the police. This is the way that the profiteer Alex (Thiago Lacerda) invents to take the young woman to the U.S.A. without being discovered. But, as can be seen, the plan fails. The situation is like this... After receiving a phone call from Alex and embarking with an immigrant group en route to Mexico, she finally finds herself just a step from the border. In Mexican territory, she waits for the moment of the passage in a cheap hotel room, along with F�tima (Bete Mendes), Mercedes (Rosi Fields), Inesita (Juliana Knust) and Rosary (Fernanda Paes Helm). As Sol is the first, by herself, to try to cross the border, Mercedes gives her a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect her. Without any explanation, coyotes, as the profiteers are known, lodges Sol under the dashboard of an old car, that will be driven by a Mexican to the U.S.A. In a routine procedure, the vehicle is stopped by policemen, who check it superficially and then liberate the driver. When everything seems to have gone right, one of the officials comes back and discovers the suffocating Sol in her hiding place. Completely frightened, she says nothing while the policemen try in vain to communicate in English and Spanish. At this moment, as luck would have it, the image of the saint falls and the officers think that Sol is Mexican, since Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. Using to his advantage the surprise of the policemen, the driver confirms this and says that Sol is deaf and dumb, daughter of a neighbor who must have hidden her. For being confused with a Mexican, Sol has right to come back to Mexico in freedom. Recovered from the scare, Sol prays in gratefulness to the saint as she prepares for the next attempt to illegally immigrate in U.S.A. She does not give up.

Posted by Andrew on March 18, 2005 12:47 PM.

Comments

Posted by: Canadia at March 22, 2005 4:38 PM