KPBS documentary chronicles Green Valley saga
Friday, May 5, 1989
by Marty Wisckol
Perhaps the most poignant moment in Uneasy Neighbors, the KPBS
documentary on Green Valley migrants, was filmed just before Christmas.
On the screen is a candlelight ceremony at the encampment for migrants
who have just learned they will soon have to leave. An acoustic guitar plays a gentle
Mexican theme while the Rev. Rafael Martinez, who works extensively with homeless
migrants, quietly shares with an interviewer his frustration with the situation.
"We just spent this winter $2 million to save a couple of whales
from being killed by the ice in the North Pole," Martinez asks while the camera zooms
in on migrants huddled -- seemingly around the candles -- in the crisp night air.
"And to tell me we cannot house a few low-income people who work for us seems the
greatest of absurdities. It's a matter of priorities. It's matter of values in a society.
Is it possible that we can value whales more than human beings?"
The documentary, which will air on KPBS Channel 15 Thursday at 8 p.m
and again May 14 at 11 a.m., offers an in depth look at the people, conditions and daily
drama at the southern Carlsbad encampment, which was closed by health officials Feb. 1.
The program also interviews Encinitas Councilwoman Marjorie Gaines, an
ardent opponent of the illegal camps, who says the people waiting on the streets of North
County is unlike anything since the Great Depression.
Among neighbors interviewed are two elderly homeowners who show a
makeshift home they dismantled in a nearby canyon, and another homeowner who is
sympathetic to the plight of the homeless migrants.
A running theme of the 35-minute documentary is the juxtaposition of
the migrants appalling living conditions with the affluence of those who live around them.
But the primary focus is on the camp, and it offers a remarkably intimate look at the
makeshift community. It is an understanding of the migrants' situation that producer Paul
Espinosa hopes to share with viewers.
"It has to do with attitudes," Espinosa said. "This show
can do something in that way. Most people haven't been in a camp and don't know what these
people's lives are about. This opens a window into their lives. That's where this program
can help educate people."
"Uneasy Neighbors" reveals a variety of attitudes among the
migrants. One man lives in the canyons so he can send $300 to his family in Oaxaca every
two weeks. Another says he is comfortable in the camp, which featured a restaurant, a
soccer field and a church and was populated for about 10 years before being shut down. A
third talks of his evenings in the camp -- and he wouldn't know where to go out at night
if he wanted to. When asked what the difference was between here and Mexico, one child
tells an interviewer he could go out more.
The people of Green Valley talk about "Americanos" sniffing
at them in the market when they go to buy food after a day's work. They talk about being
given worthless checks after a weeks work. They talk of being hunted "like dogs"
by authorities. But beneath it all, there is one common attraction to the area: the
American dollar.
The documentary was filmed from November to February, and proceeds
through a number of dramas. A pregnant woman is taken to the clinic by the Rev. Martinez
and learns she must have a Caesarean section. Another pregnant woman who was to be taken
to the clinic is taken away in a Border Patrol raid, as is an epileptic woman whose mother
has her medicine. The final drama, of course, is the closing of the camp.
"This documentary is a classic example of cinema verite -- trying
to capture scenes as they happen and not knowing how they'll finally fit in,"
Espinosa said.
Espinosa, director of Hispanic Affairs at KPBS, has worked on several
Latin-oriented documentaries. The most recent was his award-winning production of "In
the Shadow of the Law," a nationally broadcast program last year on undocumented
families. It was during that project that Espinosa learned of the Green Valley camp and
met Martinez who is called the "Angel of the Hills" in "Uneasy
Neighbors" and serves, in a sense, as guide for the cinematic journey through the
camp and the lives of its inhabitants.