On the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 30, DU students were treated to a screening of the documentary “Trails of Hope and Terror,” created by 2015 DU graduate Vincent De La Torre. De La Torre is the son of Dr. Miguel De La Torre, a professor of social ethics and Latino/a studies at the Iliff School of Theology. Dr. De La Torre wrote the screenplay for the film as well as the book the film was based on. The screening took place at Lindsay Auditorium in Sturm Hall, and was viewed by a small audience of around 30 DU students and community members.
Discussions about immigration in the media and in politics are often so chaotic and hysterical that it can be hard to separate the facts from the fear-mongering. “Trails of Hope and Terror” is a look at the reality of immigration over the United States’ southern border, the difficulties that immigrants face in attempting to cross the border and the historical events and circumstances that contributed to creating the current crisis as it stands today.
The film is a powerful mix of emotion and information. It includes interviews with people whose lives have been impacted juxtaposed against clips from the news media that demonstrate the way in which the rhetoric is disconnected from the human reality of the situation. The film also explains the way in which U.S. foreign policy over the last 150-odd years has directly contributed to the political upheaval and economic destruction in Mexico and Central America, and how our government continues to exacerbate the issue with misguided policies and tactics.
“Trails of Hope and Terror” is a clear and effective call to action. Watching it is at once eye-opening and enraging—there is one scene in the film which shows, from the point of view of a motion-activated camera set up in the desert somewhere along the Mexican-American border, volunteers from the humanitarian organization No More Deaths (No Más Muertes) placing life-saving jugs of water along the trail for those crossing the border. The very next second, the camera cuts to a scene of border patrol agents kicking over or dumping out those very same jugs, rendering them useless.
A key idea of the film is that it asks its audience to recognize that despite an immigrant’s status as “legal” or not, the current treatment of those trying to cross the border is wrong. As Dr. De La Torre said during the Q&A session after the film, “This is the greatest human rights violation occurring in this time in this country.”
For more information on “Trails of Hope and Terror,” visit their website.
