RP3: Joining the Water Wheel

I really appreciated Aliera's concept of being trapped in a cycle, represented in the film by the churning water in the wheel or the cement in the mixer. It was evident when Enrique threw up his arms that he was being churned into the cycle of structural inequality as well, but the scene that got me was right before, when he woke up and joined the other men outside before the truck pulled up. At this point, Enrique's entire world has flipped; the person he is closest to is dead, he now lives alone and is stuck in a place where he still does not feel free. For me this was represented ultimately by the change in clothing. When he scored the job as a waiter's assistant and came home in dress pants, a dress shirt, vest and bow-tie, neither he or Rosa could stop smiling because his clothing was a representation of their hopes of what el Norte would be like. His wardrobe was a manifestation of everything that they were working towards. Essentially they had achieved their dream. However, this is all destructed when he loses the job to the fear of immigration and deportation. When Enrique appears in utilitarian pants, a button-down flannel, jacket, straw hat and work boots, it appears he has lost everything. He conforms to the standards that he and Rosa had worked so hard to avoid. When he joins the men standing in the dusty circle, he too becomes a number, ready to work with strong arms and no smile. As he enters the circle, it made me wonder how many other men had to do the exact same thing? How many of them faced the exact same structural inequality that forced them into a life stuck between two unfree worlds? How many of these men kept their hearts stuck behind work shirts and shovels everyday, offering their arms up to unfairness that they can not avert?
Focusing on one account such as Enrique's evokes sadness because it is personal. But digesting the reality that this issue is not personal -it is political, it effects everyone, and it is built into the United State's framework- is both disgusting and horrifying. How are we all stuck in a cycle that accepts this injustice and then perpetuates it? We have trapped ourselves into a water wheel and no one can come up for air.