''Which Way Home'' is a 2009 documentary film directed by Rebecca Cammisa. The film follows several children who are attempting to get from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, on top of a

freight train A freight train, also called a goods train or cargo train, is a railway train that is used to carry cargo, as opposed to passengers. Freight trains are made up of one or more locomotives which provide propulsion, along with one or more railroad ...

that crosses

known as "La Bestia" (The Beast). Cammisa received a Fulbright Scholar Grant to make the documentary in 2006. The film premiered on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on August 24, 2009.

Synopsis

Each year, thousands of Latin American migrants travel hundreds of miles to the United States, with many making their way on the tops of freight trains. Roughly five percent of those traveling alone are children. As the United States continues to debate immigration reform, the documentary Which Way Home looks the issue through the eyes of children who face the harrowing journey with enormous courage and resourcefulness.

Characters

*Kevin: A fourteen-year-old boy trying to reach America to be able to support his mother back in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. He also leaves attempting to leave his step-father, with whom he has a bad relationship. Eventually, he finds out that life there is equally difficult in different ways. *Fito: A thirteen-year-old boy trying to find work in America. He leaves his hometown in Honduras with Kevin, also hoping to find a better life away from his grandmother and absent mother. *Yuriko ("El Perro"): A seventeen-year-old boy, who leaves

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

in hopes of finding a family that will adopt him in the US. Having no family, he lives on the streets begging in Chiapas and strikes up a close friendship with Fito on the journey to the border. He struggles with an addiction to huffing glue. *Juan Carlos: A thirteen-year-old boy from

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

who leaves his mother to try and find work in America. He is abandoned by his father, and attempts to reach New York, where his father went. *Olga and Freddy: Two friends on a journey to cross the border to find their family. Olga travels to Minnesota to find her mother while Freddy travels to Illinois to find his father. They were both ages nine years old traveling from Honduras to the US.

Reception

Critical response

''Which Way Home'' has an approval rating of 100% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 8 reviews, and an average rating of 7.79/10.

Awards and nominations

Won

*Emmy, 2010 - Outstanding Informational Programming-Long Form

Nominated

*Academy Award 2010 - Best Documentary Feature *Spirit Award 2010 - Best DocumentarySpirit Awards website
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Soundtrack

An excerpt from the soundtrack (heard at 0:07:10 and again at 1:06:00) by

James Lavino James Dixon Lavino (born March 7, 1973) is an American composer and songwriter, known especially for his choral music and his music for film and television. Life and career Before 2002 Lavino was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended t ...

has been adopted by the

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

network to accompany the introduction trailer to feature film presentations in 2016.

References

External links

*
''Which Way Home'' on HBO
* * * http://whichwayhome.net/awards.html 2009 films 2000s English-language films 2000s Spanish-language films 2009 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about illegal immigration to the United States Mr. Mudd films Documentary films about children Documentary films about rail transport 2009 multilingual films American multilingual films 2000s American films Films scored by James Lavino English-language documentary films {{bio-documentary-film-stub Spanish-language American films