The Golden Dream

Three young people set out from Guatemala: Juan, Sara and Samuel. Their aim is to reach the United States. Sara cuts her hair and dresses as a boy. A fourth joins on the road: Chauk, an indigenous boy from southern Mexico who speaks no Spanish. They ride on the tops of trains, cross borders, are detained, are sent back and start again. Each of them loses something along the way. Diego Quemada-Díez writes and directs. The cast are not professionals; the team chose them from among thousands of young people in Guatemala and they really come from similar conditions. It was shot on the real route and on the real trains; that line was used by migrants for years and its danger is widely known. The narrative builds no story of rescue; a new obstacle appears at every stage and the hope thins as it proceeds. Chauk is at the centre; he has no language and his position in the group changes only through patience. It received an award for its young cast in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes film festival in 2013. The visual language is plain: handheld camera, natural light and little music. Who it is for: viewers who follow narratives of migration and Latin American realism. Who it is not for: it is heavy, without hope, and some scenes are distressing.