Which Way Home

It is not only Central American and Mexican men who are trying to enter the United States illegally. Five percent of this large group of economic refugees consists of children under the age of 16. Every day, hundreds of children climb onto the freight trains leaving the south of Mexico for the U.S. During their journey, they can be robbed or raped, or fall from the train while they are sleeping. Those who survive this perilous journey then have to cross the heavily guarded border between Mexico and the United States. Despite all of this, the boys hardly seem aware of the dangers. If they do manage to get across, they try to earn a living or get adopted. follows various groups of children on their long journey. The filmmakers travel by car, and by the time they reach the next railway station, some of the kids have inevitably been arrested or knocked from the train in a tunnel. Interviews with the family members they leave behind make it clear that lack of money means the parents of these children often do not want them to return. For many of the kids who get arrested and deported, the journey will begin all over again. is a gripping documentary about a situation that adults should never have to endure, let alone children.