Brief Description of the Film

Crossing Arizona

Brief description of the film

Crossing Arizona is a 2006 film directed by Daniel DeVivo and Joseph Matthew. The film captures the grim realities of illegal immigration in South West America. The film was inspired by issues emanating from illegal immigration of people from Central America and Mexico as they cross through the Arizona desert (Mathew & DeVivo 2). The film depicts women and children in their thousands crossing the hot Arizona deserts to reunite with their families. The rising death toll due to the harsh weather conditions and lack of water prompts issues on human rights, class, labor, culture and national security. Humanitarian groups led by Mike Wilson, a Native American activist place water along paths in the desert commonly used by the immigrants. The humanitarian groups believe that the immigrants are victims of economic circumstances and do not deserve for lack of basic needs such as water (Mathew & DeVivo 2). Chris Simcox on the other hand, has established a citizen patrol group (The Minutemen) whose work is to guard the Arizona/Mexico border with weapons. Through the debates by people on both sides of the issues, the film explores the social and political circumstances that have contributed to human suffering in the Arizona desert.

What the film illustrates

The film illustrates several issues on the sociology of immigration. It illustrates resistance, restrictions, legislations and policies regarding immigration in United States. The film emphasizes on the migration of people due to neoclassical economics-the people immigrating through the Arizona desert are doing so in search of jobs and better lives. They seek to balance the equilibrium (supply and demand) in the US labor market.

The film also illustrates the importance of cohesive family units as women and children cross through a harsh desert to reunite with their husbands. Moreover, the issues of social class and culture come to the fore as the immigrants work in lowly paying jobs. The immigrants provide labor to farmers who use them against the laws governing labor in the United States. Moreover, the suffering and deaths of people as they cross the Arizona desert pits humanity against US immigration policies.