Film Series- Hispanic Heritage Museum: The 800 Mile Wall

Movie films for educational use during National Hispanic Heritage Month. The 800 Mile Wall highlights the construction of the new border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border as well as the effect on migrants trying to cross into the U.S. This powerful 90-minute film is an unflinching look at a failed U.S. border strategy that many believe has caused the death of thousands of migrants and violates fundamental human rights. Since border walls have been built, well over 5,000 migrant bodies have been recovered in U.S. deserts, mountains and canals. Some unofficial reports put the death toll as high as 10,000 men, women and children. As a direct result of U.S. border policy, migrants are forced to cross treacherous deserts and mountains in search of low skill and low paying jobs in the United States. The New York Times writes, "Current border strategy is serving as a funnel through deadly terrain." The 800 Mile Wall documents, in great detail, the ineffective and deadly results of a failed border policy and offers some thoughts and on how the current human rights crisis may be resolved. Directed by John Carlos Frey and Produced by Jack Lorenz. 

 http://www.800milewall.org/aboutthefilm.html.

 Three muralists (one Chicano, one Black, one American Indian) and the socially-maladjusted cousin of the Chicano muralist set off on a road trip with the intent of painting their images on the White House. Along the way they meet a mysterious Black woman. Together, these four men and one woman encounter racism, sexism, internal conflicts, and finally redemption as they discover their common humanity and their internal ability to conquer the societal ills that effect them all. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119138/plotsummary.