Who is Dayani Cristal? Page #2

Synopsis: An anonymous body in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for identity leads us back across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo.
Genre: Documentary
Director(s): Marc Silver
Production: Kino Lorber Films
  3 wins & 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.0
Metacritic:
55
Rotten Tomatoes:
78%
NOT RATED
Year:
2013
85 min
Website
1,403 Views


I sold avocados, bananas, mangoes...

melons and watermelons...

and all kinds of fruit like that.

Right now you could say...

that very few people

have enough to survive on.

Good afternoon.

I'd like to change quetzals for pesos.

How many?

360, I think. I'll just check.

Yes, 360.

360 times 1.5.

That comes to 540 pesos.

- 540 pesos.

- Great.

- Thank you.

- Welcome.

Bye.

He had to travel with enough money

to pay the smuggler.

1,500 dollars.

It was probably everything he had.

Yohan made the journey

mainly because...

he felt he had very little money.

In fact...

he had some debt problems.

He said he was going to make money

so we could live better.

He didn't want me to suffer.

But I told him it didn't matter.

I would have gone hungry.

I only wanted to be with him.

Here migrants become easy prey.

Everyone knows that you need money

to cross to the north.

The bodies of 58 undocumented men

and 14 women were found...

bullet-ridden in this warehouse,

en route to the USA.

The citizens from Honduras,

Brazil, El Salvador and Ecuador...

were intercepted by members

of the criminal organization Los Zetas.

For all those who seek

safe passage through this country...

there are minimum security standards...

to avoid exposure to criminal networks.

And this is the wager.

Can you make it across Mexico

with your family's future in your pocket?

A round of applause

for Jesus this evening.

El Escanito is the land of Jesus Christ!

A round of applause for Jesus!

Hallelujah!

It's difficult...

one of the hardest decisions

you'll ever make.

You know you're leaving

everything behind.

It's really tough.

You could say

it's a decision about death.

Death is what you come up against

most on the road.

From one day to the next,

you decide that you're off.

You go with the hope that

you'll actually reach the USA.

Even though you haven't arrived yet

you look back one last time...

because you know deep down

that you may never return to Honduras.

You get a lump in your throat.

No, you never turn around.

You just keep going.

Two hundred kilometers

north of the Guatemalan border...

we catch the train in Arriaga.

The migrants call it "The Beast."

Hi. How's it going?

When are we leaving?

Soon. The train is hooking up

the railcars ahead.

- Really?

- Yes.

The Beast snakes its way

over 1,000 kilometers...

through the heart of Mexico...

to the north...

to the United States.

It's dangerous. When it jolts,

the people standing up fall off.

Many people have fallen that way.

You just grab on here and that's it.

- And these are the gondola cars?

- Yes.

Watch.

You have to hold on tight.

This is a slow one.

- Just grip it.

- Okay.

When the train starts,

you might run into immigration...

so jump with your feet apart.

Land on your feet

because it pulls you down.

- Down?

- Yes, so make an open jump.

You climb down when it's going slow

then you jump facing forwards.

- Then you run, it's not going fast.

- Of course.

Shall we go over there,

to the one we just saw?

- Yes?

- Okay.

Hi, there.

At first, it is loud...

and powerful.

But then you fall into its rhythm...

like riding a horse for the first time.

You're not fully in control.

In reality, you have no control at all.

It is dangerous but beautiful,

and that makes you relax.

You climb up with your food and water...

and you feel happy.

- Here you are.

- Thanks.

- You're welcome.

- No problem.

Are you going to the USA?

- Yes.

- What part?

- San Francisco.

- We're going to Los Angeles.

We're going to Piedras Negras

if we're lucky.

- Which way are you going?

- Through Arizona.

I'm afraid of the desert.

It's the shortest way, I think.

That's the funny thing...

it's so close but so far.

The walk.

You're right there

but there's still a big walk left.

The danger is going to sleep

and falling under the wheels...

or a gang robs you

or they want to kidnap you.

- Are they burning garbage here?

- Yes.

I personally haven't seen any kidnappings.

But we've seen many train deaths.

About 10 kilometers from Ixtepec...

we found someone

who had just been killed by a train.

- Is it your first time?

- Yes.

- And yours?

- Yes.

And yours?

It's your third?

You're the veteran.

Thousands set out on that journey...

but not everyone makes it.

I have rarely felt as alive

as when I was on top of that train.

It wasn't because the fear of death

was there along the way...

but the feeling of fraternity

we shared on that endless trip.

Hold on tight!!

Yeah, otherwise-

Watch out! Immigration control!

Stick your head out

in case they're at Ixtepec.

I really hope they're not there.

They worry about me...

because now we tame

"The Beast" together.

How does the song go?

I ride over needless

and broken dreams

A clueless prisoner

of this daily jungle

Like a dry leaf that drifts in the wind

An imaginary flight over true stories

I sail over the sea of exact things

Let us sleep, a**holes!

When I was young,

we weren't deluded like they are now.

People were afraid of the trip

and of jumping on the train.

Those who have been...

came back saying

how beautiful the train was.

People started to get more excited.

Now, as soon as they're 14 or 15...

they're ready to risk it all

to get to the US.

All right.

Thanks a lot.

Take care.

He never called me Dad.

He would just say "My old man."

He wanted to tell me something, he

was going to the US to try things there.

I told him not to go,

you don't know what could happen.

He replied that he was going

so I told him to go and wished him luck.

I hoped God would

keep him safe on the journey.

On his arrest, he told authorities

he had crossed the border over ten times.

The first time was when he was 14.

He was detained for a minor drug

offense near Portland, Oregon.

They never put him in prison for it.

He was sent to a detention center

and then deported back to Honduras.

Before crossing...

the smuggler tells you to leave behind

anything that can identify you...

to change your name

in case they catch you.

Yohan felt a lot of pressure

to make this trip.

I think he thought it was necessary.

Money was tight...

because of the boy's illness.

This is Yohancito, my son.

He's eight years old.

When he was two, he got a fever.

He was hospitalized.

Three days later,

they said he had leukemia.

I didn't even know what it was.

They explained that

it was cancer of the blood.

It made me very sad...

I never imagined I would see

a child so ill in a hospital bed.

He caught pneumonia in the hospital.

They told us that he was

going to die that night.

He was seriously ill.

I bought him a little coffin

with a shroud and everyhing.

If God doesn't want

to take someone, he doesn't.

They said that if we did

exactly as the doctor ordered...

he would get better,

because he was so young.

I had to borrow money

for his appointments.

I had to find a way to pay for it.

Yohan said he'd decided to go...

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Mark Monroe

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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