Plow to Plate Movie Series Presents: The Harvest/La Cosecha

"The Harvest" follows three migrant worker families through a summer as they chase the harvests from state to state, with particular focus on the children: Zulema Lopez, age 12 from El Cenizo, Texas, Victor Huapilla, age 16, from Quincy, Florida, and Perla Sanchez, age 14, from Weslaco, Texas. Like the split linguistics of the film title, Zulema and Perla speak English, as well as Spanish, because they are American born.

The film addresses their hopes, fears, anxieties, harsh realities and split identities. They are seemingly trapped in a cycle of poverty that is passed down from generation to generation, while living in a country that still holds out glimpses of the American Dream. Each year about 400,000 children twelve and under work in the fields.  This is their story.

The documentary depicts the harsh reality of migrant farm labor: waking up in the dark at the crack of dawn to face long 14 hour work days seven days a week, back breaking labor, scorching heat, poor living conditions, low pay based not on any minimum wage but on the number of fruits or vegetables picked. Children bear the additional hardships of leaving school before the summer recess has started, missing graduations, saying goodbye to friends and not being able to spend time with them away from school.

Like most films on migrant farm workers, "The Harvest" chronicles economic exploitation. There is something wrong with an economic system that pays its workers so little that they often cannot afford to pay the $.99 per pound supermarket price for tomatoes that they themselves might have picked. Or families so desperate for cash that a broken car or health issue can derail them.

Yet while it is an indictment of this system, it tacitly acknowledges that farm labor, however difficult, is also the one fragile thread providing a meager living to these families. When Perla’s mother has a medical emergency and the family is diverted to a hospital in Alabama they cannot find any work and their situation quickly deteriorates.

While "The Harvest" is a film about poverty and living on society’s edge, it is also a portrait of close-knit families whose burdens are lightened by being together. It is about chipping in, helping one another, and mutual sacrifice: parents for children and kids for parents. Zulema is sent to Florida by her mom to live with her grandmother for nine months to focus on her studies but returns after a bad experience with a more mature outlook on life.  “How can I be suffering if I am not the only one going through this?” she asks. It’s about shared experience and the power of faith: “God squeezes but he does not choke.”

"The Harvest" is also about the struggle to hold onto hope.  When asked about her aspirations, Zulema responds, “Dreams? No, I’m still working on those.” Victor doesn’t cling to the idea of becoming a doctor or lawyer to escape the fields. He has learned that money does not buy you happiness and would be content with a stable job making a decent living. Perla’s greatest desire is to spend the summer in her own home.

If these three keep their ambitions in check, the film itself does end optimistically. The closing credits show an astronaut, CEO, doctor, lawyer, professor, and corporate executive, all of whom were migrant farm workers as children. I have little doubt that Zulema, Victor, and Perla have brighter futures, as well.

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Park Slope Food Coop – 2^nd Floor

7:00 p.m.  Refreshments will be served