120 Days

This is a well done documentary that shows the human side of immigration. The family is the type of family you would love to have as neighbors. Teddy Roach does a great job humanizing the plight while not forcing any political views on the viewer.

This deeply personal view into the family's last 120 days together in the US and is a great way for all of us to grapple with our personal views on immigration policies and how they effect real families that have to struggle with them.

I hope all of our leaders in the US government take the time to watch pieces like this, so they can fully understand the impact of the rules they make or the laws they enforce.

While waiting at a stop light, Miguel Cortes is pulled over by a cop in North Carolina but charged with nothing. He is instead only asked for papers, and when unable to produce a driver's license, is arrested and jailed while his daughters are left in the car. Cortes is a law-abiding, working, contentedly married father of two girls and was taking them to school. At an immigration hearing, he is assessed a $5,000 fine and given 120 days to put his affairs in order and depart the country. This is the story of those days.

"Before you criticize a person, walk a mile in his shoes." Remember that one? Here's the viewers' opportunity to instead spend 120 days in the Cortes family's shoes. Viewers get to know and become a part of the family as they plan personal and financial matters in preparation for his separation from them.

Whatever your feelings about deportation of undocumented aliens, this movie will cause you to think again and put them in sharper contrast. For anyone with even a small degree of authority over the matter, it is a near compulsory watch.

I was able to watch this film in the intimate atmosphere of the Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill - an atmosphere that allowed the audience to share their emotions with one another both during and after the filming. The family featured in this film embodies everything that the American family has come to represent - a family dedicated to one another, dedicated to their faith, dedicated to their community! A family that knows the value of hard work and a good education! The only problem is - it is a family that we Americans are apparently only comfortable with by putting the label of "illegal aliens" on! If you have not seen this film, and continue to be comfortable using that label, consider exposing yourself to a side of what another "America" has to offer. We will ALL profit from your willingness to open that door! This beautifully composed film has a message for All communities.

"120 Days" exposes the human side of immigrant families in this country. This film is emotionally packed as you begin to feel like you know the family members and can really empathize with their situation. I was especially interested in this film because it features a family not far from where I live in North Carolina. This is one family that was featured in a film but they represent so many others who are struggling with the same reality. You really begin to see that people are fearful and living in the shadows because of the unfair, unjust system we have in the U.S. This film has been an eye opener for many and I strongly urge anyone regardless of their stance on immigration to watch "120 Days."

With so many pundits and politicians attempting to demonize undocumented immigrants, "120 Days" provides an essential corrective. The people in this moving documentary come to seem like family members, and the human toll of immigration policy becomes achingly real.

Ted Roach, the writer-director, uses subtle editing and unobtrusive narration to convey the urgency of the situation facing an undocumented immigrant named Miguel Cortes -- and he does so without resorting to sensationalism or sentimentality. The approach is simple, direct -- and all the more effective because of that.

Even viewers who shy away from documentaries will find themselves drawn into the drama of Cortes and his family. The film is just as suspenseful as a Hollywood thriller, and the outcome of the story will stay with you long after the film ends.

Highly recommended.