Analysis: The Contract by Min Sook Lee - Movie Review Example

Movie Analysis: El Contrato by Min Sook Lee El Contrato is a documentary film directed by Min Sook Lee and produced by Karen King-Chigbo. The production agency was the National Film Board of Canada. It was released in the year 2003. El Contrato was declared as the best documentary in Iberoamerican Cinema Festival held in December 13 to 19, 2003 in Montréal – Canada, and was awarded the Taureau de Platine Award. Given below is a synopsis of this documentary. El Contrato is the Spanish term for ‘The Contract’. The film involves an extremely poor man named Teodoro Bello Martinez who has a family living in Central Mexico. He had four children and they lived in sheer poverty. The film shows the poor father and his countrymen migrating to Southern Ontario on annual basis for the purpose of picking tomatoes and earning their bread and butter. Leamington, Ontario, has been well known regarding the cultivation of Heinz tomatoes and the possession of great green houses for this purpose. Every year for eight months, nearly 4000 migrants entered Southern Ontario to pick tomatoes. All of these migrants had to be married citizens of Mexico so that it is ensured that all of them leave Canada after the expiration of the contract. The wages they would get were extremely less so much so that such a less wage was unacceptable by a local worker belonging to Southern Ontario. These migrants worked under the Program designed by the Canadian and the Mexican governments. This Program had been in action since 1974. However, the Mexican government was not ready to increase the wages or grant any allowances to the migrant workers. They also could not fight for their right because there was always a long queue behind them waiting to fill in the vacancies in case the working laborers left their places out of objection regarding wages. However, the film shows the workers raising their voices finally and telling the audience about the misfortunes they experienced while their stay in Canada. The film portrayed that the migrant workers who migrated to Leamington were a great asset for the country and its economic infrastructure. This is evident because local merchants proved it themselves that their businesses were at their peak in the month when the migrants came to pick Tomatoes. The migrant laborers were also considered precious because they added to the country’s finances by paying off taxes, buying food, paying their medical bills, living in rented residence, and giving off money in insurances and pension programs. Nothing went in their benefit while all they received for they toil and hard work was a paycheck of seven dollars for an hour. However, they were not in a position to get into a rift with the government because as mentioned earlier, it was very easy for the government to kick them out of their country and call for other workers who were very willing to replace the previous ones. It was also not feasible for the workers to find new employers if they got into conflicts with the ones they were working with. If ever they did so, they would have to arrange the charges for the flight back to their homeland themselves, just like Teodoro experienced. So, none of them ever thought of raising voice against the government they were working for. This weakness of them made them subject to ill-treatment, exploitation and neglect. The film shows the migrant laborers working on two farms getting orders from their owners and working accordingly. The laborers talked about how they were being abused and being subjected to bully. They talked about how their owners mistreated them and how they were supposed to carry out the orders without any resistance. They were not only abused verbally but were also battered physically. Neither did they resist nor did the owners expect resistance. The owners told that most of the workers who migrated from Mexico today were not that fearful as they used to be a generation back. The attitude was changing among them now. The film also shows that the legality of agricultural unions in Ontario was controversial. The government did not support the agricultural unions formed by the migrant workers and thus those unions did not get any allowance or benefit from the government. Still, the unions continued to work in Leamington. The local Catholic Church, however, would solve the workers’ conflicts every now and then. The priests took interest in the Mexican worker’s problems and the church would try to motivate the Mexican consulate to solve their worker’s conflicts in Ontario. The consulate showed on screen that the workers were doing okay and that there were no conflicts to be resolved. But that year when the workers moved south, the priests were also transferred and thus the agricultural union became stagnant. Also, the official in the Mexican consulate was also replaced and the new official was not ready to take any interest in the Mexican workers’ issues. The film also focuses on how the workers worked to pick tomatoes and what process the tomatoes underwent till they were brought into the market. The farmers worked in the hot greenhouses and sprayed pesticides with no protection for them. They would inhale the poisonous pesticides and they had to. They had no other option. The film also showed that the occupation of agriculture and farming was not considered to be a respectable job in Canada, and the farmers were always looked down upon. Those villages and farms were also shown in the film which the workers moved to in winters. There the farming was done without the use of pesticides and other chemicals. The film showed how the workers came back after their eight month toil and told their wives about their struggle. A wife told her husband never to go back. It was obvious that the farmers did not enjoy their journey and were not very happy with the occupation. In short, the film portrayed that it was not a very good experience for the Mexican workers to work in southwestern Ontario as farmers. Read More