Crosstown (Miriam Kruishoop, 2013) USA

Reviewed by Tobias Luvenberg. View at Santa Barbara Film Festival.

To be an immigrant family in US is not always want you suspected it to be. In this movie you follow two families with two different cultures. The El Salvador family is struggling with there teen age boy that is in the El Salvador gang, and the other family is struggling with the teenage daughter  that is in love with a boy in the local gang.

From the very beginning the boy Angel (Angel Amaral) watch and follow his bigger brother (he is a member of the local El Salvador gang). Angel wants to be a professionally soccer player, he always carry his ball with him and never let it go. When the US Navy force Jesus to send his oldest son to war because if their son joins the army the family have a chance to get green card and then they don’t have to run or hide anymore.

The big brother dies in the war and the family doesn’t get the green card as the US Navy had said that they will have.  When Angel heard the bad news he decided to join the El Salvador gang and be like his older brother once was. At the same time he had a secret relationship with a girl from a different block and from a different culture, and they were happy together. But that wont be for to long, when Angel and Jesus is on a walk to talk about life, about what Angel wanted to do in life before he joined the El Salvador gang they met the hell, a police car is stopping in front of them and Angel starts to run instead of standing still. Jesus started to fight back a little bit and by accident he killed a police officer. They both had to run, Jesus couldn’t look back any more, he had to leave the country. Angel fixed help for his dad so he could leave the country safety and without anyone knowing. When Jesus left Angel still had the dream about to come a American citizen. Everyday he checked the mailbox in case the paper from US government would come.

30% of the immigration that have joined the US navy haven’t received any green card that had been promised when they joined the army.