I don’t think any words can do the feature length film City of Dreams justice. It’s that good (not to mention heart wrenching). It’s about a young boy named Jesus who is told he’s going to America to go to a soccer camp, but instead arrives somewhere that doesn’t in fact have anything to do with soccer at all, in fact it’s the farthest thing from soccer. It turns out Jesus just got sold into child slavery. Not sex slavery: he just does textile work, but it’s still very difficult to watch him and the other laborers struggle under their conditions. Seriously, these individuals go through some of the worst stuff imaginable. Jesus’s experiences are particularly hard to watch because he’s such a strong-willed person. The moments of hope we see from him make the moments of despair even harsher.
The most impressive thing about this film is how it really brings you there with the characters through the directing and editing. The visual storytelling in this film is masterful, as is the script. Seriously, some of the shots in this film are straight up works of art! It’s really, really well done. I loved the hectic chase scenes with the shaky camera following the characters, the recurring symbol of the shaman, and the sheer amount of suspense to be found in this film. Another element of the film I really liked is the subtlety. Even the horrible people who are abusing these literal children are given a small ounce of humanity; one man is shown reading an SAT study guide throughout the film and another late into the story makes a call to his family. It makes those characters all the more terrifying, in an odd way, to see those shreds of humanity still within them. There’s a lot to love about this film as a piece of art.
However, it’s also worth noting, and critically important to mention the purpose of this film, which is to shine a light onto the issue of human trafficking in America, which is still on-going and has been for years. It does an incredible job at it, too, and for that reason I consider it a must-watch.
Madelyn, Filmmaker Mixer Correspondent