title: Alambrista and the U.S.-Mexico Border: Film, Music, and Stories of Undocumented Immigrants
author: Nicholas J. Cull
description: "This wonderful book recalls the struggle in creating "Alambrista.""<br /><br />"An important and informative collection of essays that puts the movie into historical, cultural and artistic context."<br /><br />""Alambrista" refocuses attention on the Mexican immigrant experience in the United States. . . the book is a good read."<br /><br />""Alambrista and the US-Mexico Border; Film, Music and Stories of Unducumented Imigrants" is already playing a major role in new collaborative efforts within the field of Latino Studies. . "Alambrista" demands the attention of students, scholars, and activists alike.""<br /><br />"The book is a collection of essays on the historical context of the film as well as criticism and analysis of it. At the end of each essay is a series of provocative questions for the reader/viewer. All of this creates an exceptional educational package that is highly recommended not just for the classroom but also anyone interested in the life of the undocumented migrant agricultural worker."<br /><br />"Readers will find the film critiqued in the text with remarkable even-handedness, providing insight and context. . . an extremely valuable contribution to the ongoing debate about what we can/might/could/should/must not/must do to preserve lives and make our border with Mexico viable."
zlib_text: *** Original page numbering retained. Spelling errors in original marked with [aic!] ***
  VANISHING POINT
  Caution: Objects in this mirror may be 
  closer than they appear!
  Nostalgia born of the immensity of the Texan hills and the sierras of New Mexico: 
  gliding down the freeway, smash hits on the Chrysler stereo, heat wave. Snapshots 
  aren’t enough. We’d need the whole film of the trip in real time, including the 
  unbearable heat and the music. We’d have to replay it all from end to end at home in 
  a darkened room, rediscover the magic of the freeways and the distance and the 
  ice-cold alcohol in the desert and the speed and live it all again on the video at 
  home in real time, not simply for the pleasure of remembering but because the 
  fascination of senseless repetition is already present in the abstraction of the 
  journey. The unfolding of the desert is infinitely close to the timelessness of 
  film...
  SAN ANTONIO
  The Mexicans, become Chicanos, act as guides on the visit to El Alamo t