The capital of the Tohono O’odham Nation happens to be 20 miles from the Mexican border. Thousands of migrants travel through the searing-hot Sonoran Desert in search of freedom. Writer/Director Jefferson Stein takes a glimpse at this ongoing tragedy through the eyes of a young Indigenous girl in the deeply affecting, exquisitely subtle, Oscar-qualifying short film Burros. Nary a word is uttered, yet so much is said.
The young girl in question is Elsa (Amaya Juan), who lives in a trailer-like home with her busy father – a tracker who’s been utilized by the border patrol. One day, while playing by herself, Elsa meets a parched young Latina girl, Ena (Zuemmy Carrillo). Ena got lost while crossing the border with her dad. The two girls drink, eat tortillas, play, even visit a kindly old woman, leaving her with little choice but to do the right thing.
What is the right thing to do, in a land where morals have been scorched by the sun and mere shreds of humanity remain? Stein is highly adept at saying a lot with a little. A casino gas station. A buffalo head on the wall. A game of sand hockey. All these seemingly inconsequential things reveal volumes about the lifestyle in these parts. Identity is the prevailing theme here: Elsa’s Indigenous father is a tracker, and his inherent ability/skill is being misused to track down other folks, whose identities have been similarly erased or misshapen.
Cole Graham’s beautiful cinematography accentuates both the depravity of the surroundings and the warmth of the young girls’ budding relationship. He captures them strolling through the desert, surrounded by emerald succulents – plants whose vibrancy prevails over the heat and the drought. At another point, the two girls disappear out of frame, and the shot lingers to observe a trail of immigrants, making their way into the Land Of The Free.
But at the heart of the story is childhood’s innocence, and how easily it becomes corrupted by the bureaucracy of adults. All these girls want is to be friends, to enjoy their youth. Yet they face long, arduous journeys ahead of them.
Burros portrays a brief, but crucial moment, that will sear itself into the viewer’s mind like a ray of sun through a prism.
