A Lien

A short film reflecting the operations of U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement against undocumented immigrants at their required Greed Card interview.

A family- mother, father , with roots in El salvador, their daughter. Prepaires for interview for man. In time of his interview, the intervention of ICE , arresting people without documents. The SMS of wife as warnings . And the effort to recuperate her daughter, present at interview with her father.

Easy to formulate conclusions about abuse and injustice.

The film proposes only a portrait about policy of American authorities. Well acted, it is a story about one of dark sides of immigration process.

Road to the Oscars 2025. This is nominated in 1 category best short film.

Having a short like this to highlight a problem you only hear more and more instances about is good. Using filmmaking to actually comment on something going on and showing it in this light. It is a coloured short of course on the political spectrum but if toy agree with it´s values as I do then it will no doubt be something worth checking out.

Oscar and Victoria is going to Oscars green card approval and has their daughter with them. The meeting turns into a far more serious problem for them.

The sound design in this short is actually really good. A lot of overwhelming sounds creates this chaotic sound side of the movie that helps elevate the chaotic nature of the situation of the short.

This short puts emphasis on a really sad situation that can hit a lot of families and according to the end statements already does. It is a really messed up way to treat people and while there sometimes can be more to a story no doubt, the idea of fairness and see-thoroughness is thrown out the window here and the idea is devastating.

The short is a bit too set up for drama though. The inclusion of the daughter character is only introduced to make more artificial drama and while it works it´s obvious for the viewers why it´s there. It took me out of the short a little bit.

But overall this is a sloid and competent short. It knows what it wants to tell and it does it in an effective way to shine light on an issue that might only get more insane from now on.

Oscar predictions: While I have only watched 2 of the contenders in this category this has a pretty good chance of winning with its subject matter. Virtue signalling a lot here, showing that the academy supports this course. But I have also watched I´m not a Robot(2023) and with the rising AI support films in Hollywood that might also have a pretty good agenda chance. OF the 2 I think I enjoyed I´m not a robot more, but I found this to hit me more.

In 2023, the film A Lien was a cautionary tale of what was to come if America continued down its path of Xenophobia. It provokes a scene of terror for a family.

In the 2024 election, a majority of American voters bought the narrative that aliens are all criminals. And now theatre has foreshadowed real life.

We are now fully there. The events depicted in this acted out presentation of a humanitarian nightmare are now happening across the US as plain-clothed ICE agents now grabbing and exporting immigrants who are in the naturalization process. Families are being broken up, and children are being grabbed.

So 9 stars for being both terrifying and exactly prophetic. May god help us all.

I spoke to a few folks in related police, immigration, and government roles. They said this is just not possible. It is compelling to imagine how "bad" ICE can be, but the story grossly exaggerates the process and creates artificial political drama around how families are treated. It just would not happen that way. There are some very bad things happening with non-citizens being deported, but this over-the-top dramatic portrayal creates undue fear and hatred for the process. There is reason to be concerned about the police and ICE for sure, but this dramatization takes it too far and makes these people look cold and evil when they are enforcing the law, which is a shame. The director wrote a fiction story and presented it as reality.

The film concerns the detention of undocumented US residents by ICE when those residents apply for for green cards at immigration centers. This is an ongoing practice and almost certainly sometimes happens when it shouldn't. I suspect, however, that the film presents a highly atypical instance of the practice, and does so for ideological/advocacy reasons as much as artistic/dramatic reasons. A viewer's appreciation of the film likely turns on the viewer's ability to identify with the characters on a personal level (for example, did they react to the situation as I would have?) Frankly, I did not. I found the film heavy handed at best.