This 2010 documentary movie offers a glimpse into the lives of migrant youngsters working within the agricultural fields of america. It follows the journeys of a number of youngsters as they navigate the challenges of balancing work, schooling, and household life whereas contributing to the nation’s meals provide. The movie affords a stark portrayal of the realities these youngsters face, together with lengthy hours, strenuous labor, and separation from household.
By shedding mild on the often-unseen world of kid agricultural labor, the movie serves as a strong advocacy device. It highlights the significance of addressing systemic points associated to poverty, immigration, and schooling entry. The documentary contributes to a broader dialog relating to moral labor practices and the rights of weak populations, significantly inside the context of the meals system. It builds upon an extended historical past of documentaries elevating consciousness of social and financial injustices inside agricultural settings.
Additional exploration of the themes offered within the movie can result in discussions about potential options, coverage adjustments, and community-based initiatives geared toward supporting migrant households and defending youngsters. The movies concentrate on the human price of meals manufacturing prompts reflection on shopper decisions and the accountability shared by people, companies, and policymakers to make sure honest and equitable labor practices.
1. Youngster agricultural labor
Youngster agricultural labor kinds the central theme of The Harvest/La Cosecha. The documentary exposes the realities of kids working in American agriculture, highlighting the demanding circumstances and systemic elements perpetuating this follow. Understanding this situation requires inspecting its numerous sides.
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Financial hardship and household survival:
Poverty typically compels households to depend on youngsters’s revenue for survival. The movie depicts how financial necessity drives dad and mom to contain their youngsters in arduous labor, sacrificing schooling and childhood for primary wants. This financial stress underscores the systemic nature of the issue, extending past particular person households.
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Instructional sacrifices and restricted alternatives:
Migrant youngsters working in agriculture continuously expertise disrupted schooling, hindering future prospects. The movie showcases the trade-off between work and education, illustrating the long-term penalties of restricted academic entry. This cycle of poverty perpetuates throughout generations, limiting alternatives for social mobility.
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Well being dangers and dangerous working circumstances:
Agricultural work exposes youngsters to quite a few hazards, together with pesticide publicity and bodily demanding duties. The documentary depicts the harmful circumstances these youngsters face, underscoring the dangers to their bodily and psychological well-being. These well being dangers can have lasting impacts, jeopardizing their long-term well being and growth.
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Authorized loopholes and lack of enough protections:
Present labor legal guidelines supply fewer protections for kids in agriculture in comparison with different industries. The movie implicitly critiques these authorized loopholes, highlighting the insufficient safeguards for these weak employees. This lack of enough safety perpetuates their exploitation and reinforces the necessity for legislative reform.
These interwoven elements show the complexity of kid agricultural labor portrayed in The Harvest/La Cosecha. The movie’s energy lies in its skill to attach these particular person experiences to bigger societal points, prompting viewers to think about the moral and social implications of the meals they devour and the methods that produce it.
2. Migrant households
The Harvest/La Cosecha intimately portrays the lives of migrant households and their integral connection to the agricultural panorama. The movie reveals how the pursuit of seasonal work shapes their experiences, creating a posh interaction of challenges and resilience. Financial necessity drives these households emigrate, following the harvest seasons throughout the nation. This fixed motion disrupts household stability and creates distinctive challenges associated to housing, schooling, and entry to important providers. The documentary highlights the sacrifices dad and mom make to offer for his or her youngsters, typically going through tough decisions between work and household well-being. For instance, the movie reveals households residing in cramped, short-term housing missing primary facilities, demonstrating the precarious nature of their existence. Youngsters typically bear the brunt of those challenges, experiencing disrupted schooling and social isolation. The movie showcases the emotional toll of separation from prolonged household and the fixed adaptation required to navigate completely different communities and faculty methods.
The movie additionally captures the power and resilience of migrant households. Regardless of the hardships they face, these households show a deep dedication to their youngsters’s future and a powerful sense of group. Dad and mom work tirelessly to offer for his or her households, instilling values of laborious work and perseverance of their youngsters. The Harvest/La Cosecha presents examples of kids excelling academically regardless of the obstacles they face, demonstrating the transformative energy of schooling and the unwavering assist of their households. Moreover, the movie showcases the significance of group networks amongst migrant households, providing mutual assist and shared assets within the face of adversity. These networks present a significant security web, providing emotional, sensible, and social assist inside a transient way of life.
Understanding the experiences of migrant households is essential to addressing the systemic points offered in The Harvest/La Cosecha. The movie underscores the necessity for coverage adjustments that assist these households, making certain entry to steady housing, high quality schooling, and reasonably priced healthcare. By showcasing the human price of agricultural labor, the movie encourages viewers to acknowledge the very important contributions of migrant households to the meals system whereas advocating for insurance policies that defend their rights and well-being. The movie challenges viewers to think about the interconnectedness of their meals decisions with the lives of those households and to advocate for a extra simply and equitable system for all.
3. Training Entry
The Harvest/La Cosecha poignantly illustrates the challenges migrant youngsters face in accessing constant and high quality schooling. This vital situation considerably impacts their future alternatives and perpetuates cycles of poverty. Inspecting the particular limitations these youngsters encounter reveals the systemic inequalities embedded inside the academic system and their connection to the agricultural labor context.
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Disrupted Education:
The migratory nature of agricultural work forces households to maneuver continuously, leading to inconsistent college attendance and frequent adjustments in colleges. Youngsters battle to adapt to new curricula, academics, and peer teams, hindering educational progress. This fixed disruption creates important studying gaps, making it tough for college students to catch up and succeed academically.
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Language Limitations:
Many migrant youngsters are English language learners, going through further challenges in navigating an English-dominant schooling system. Restricted English proficiency can impede their understanding of classroom instruction, interplay with academics and friends, and entry to academic assets. This language barrier additional exacerbates the difficulties they face because of disrupted education and cultural adjustment.
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Lack of Sources and Assist:
Faculties in communities with excessive migrant populations typically lack enough assets to handle the distinctive wants of those college students. Inadequate funding, overcrowded lecture rooms, and restricted entry to specialised assist providers, akin to bilingual schooling or tutoring, create additional obstacles to educational success. This lack of assist can depart migrant youngsters feeling marginalized and additional behind their friends.
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Social and Cultural Isolation:
Migrant youngsters typically expertise social isolation because of frequent strikes, language limitations, and cultural variations. This isolation can negatively impression their emotional well-being, vanity, and motivation to be taught. Feeling like outsiders could make it tough for them to combine into the varsity group and entry the assist they should thrive academically.
These interwoven challenges spotlight the systemic limitations to schooling entry for migrant youngsters depicted in The Harvest/La Cosecha. The movie underscores the pressing want for academic reforms and assist methods that tackle these particular obstacles. Guaranteeing equitable entry to high quality schooling for all youngsters, no matter their migratory standing, is crucial for breaking the cycle of poverty and empowering future generations. The movie’s concentrate on schooling entry serves as a name to motion, urging viewers to advocate for insurance policies and packages that assist migrant youngsters and their households in reaching their full potential.
4. Poverty and Hardship
The Harvest/La Cosecha starkly portrays the pervasive poverty and hardship endured by migrant households working in American agriculture. The movie reveals how financial instability acts as a driving power behind youngster labor, shaping the households’ precarious existence and limiting their alternatives. Poverty features not merely as a backdrop however as a central character within the narrative, influencing each side of the characters’ lives. The households’ restricted entry to assets, together with steady housing, healthcare, and dependable transportation, underscores the cyclical nature of poverty and its perpetuating affect throughout generations.
The movie affords concrete examples of how poverty straight contributes to the tough decisions households face. For example, the necessity to complement meager incomes typically compels dad and mom to contain their youngsters in agricultural work, sacrificing their schooling and long-term well-being. The households depicted within the documentary typically reside in substandard housing, missing primary facilities and going through meals insecurity. These realities underscore the tough trade-offs households make every day, highlighting the profound impression of poverty on their bodily and psychological well being. The movie implicitly critiques a system that enables such disparities to persist, forcing households into these precarious conditions.
Understanding the position of poverty and hardship inside the context of The Harvest/La Cosecha is crucial for greedy the movie’s core message. The documentary challenges viewers to confront the uncomfortable realities confronted by migrant households and to think about the systemic elements that perpetuate these inequalities. It prompts reflection on the moral implications of a meals system that depends on the labor of weak populations struggling to outlive. By highlighting the human price of agricultural manufacturing, the movie advocates for larger social accountability and coverage adjustments geared toward assuaging poverty and making certain honest labor practices inside the agricultural sector. The movie’s lasting impression lies in its capability to humanize the statistics surrounding poverty, compelling audiences to empathize with the struggles of migrant households and to advocate for a extra simply and equitable society.
5. U.S. Meals System
The Harvest/La Cosecha offers a vital lens via which to look at the U.S. meals system, significantly its reliance on migrant labor and the often-unseen human price of agricultural manufacturing. The movie’s concentrate on youngster agricultural employees exposes systemic points deeply embedded inside the nation’s meals provide chain. By following the journeys of migrant households, the documentary reveals the complicated interaction of financial pressures, labor practices, and shopper decisions that form this method.
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Shopper Demand and Market Forces:
The demand for reasonably priced produce exerts important stress on the agricultural business to attenuate prices, typically on the expense of honest labor practices. This emphasis on low costs creates an surroundings the place exploitation of weak employees, together with youngsters, turns into economically viable for some producers. The movie implicitly questions the moral implications of shopper decisions that prioritize low price over honest labor circumstances.
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Labor Legal guidelines and Regulatory Gaps:
Present labor legal guidelines present fewer protections for agricultural employees, particularly youngsters, in comparison with different industries. This creates a regulatory hole that enables for the exploitation of migrant youngsters, who typically work lengthy hours in hazardous circumstances for low wages. The Harvest/La Cosecha highlights the inadequacy of present laws in defending weak employees and the necessity for legislative reform.
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Company Accountability and Provide Chains:
Massive agricultural companies typically depend on complicated provide chains, making it tough to watch labor practices all through the whole manufacturing course of. This lack of transparency can obscure exploitative labor practices occurring additional down the availability chain. The movie raises questions in regards to the moral duties of companies to make sure honest labor requirements inside their provide networks.
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The Human Price of Meals Manufacturing:
The Harvest/La Cosecha humanizes the often-abstracted technique of meals manufacturing, bringing to mild the people whose labor sustains the system. The movie challenges viewers to think about the human price behind the meals they devour and the moral implications of supporting a system that depends on the exploitation of weak populations. The youngsters’s tales underscore the necessity for a extra simply and sustainable meals system that prioritizes the well-being of all stakeholders, from farmworkers to shoppers.
By exploring these interconnected sides of the U.S. meals system, The Harvest/La Cosecha prompts a vital examination of the complicated relationship between manufacturing, consumption, and social justice. The movie encourages viewers to develop into extra aware shoppers and to advocate for insurance policies that promote honest labor practices and defend the rights of all employees inside the meals provide chain. It underscores the pressing want for systemic change to make sure a extra equitable and sustainable meals system for the longer term. The movie’s impression rests on its skill to attach particular person tales to broader systemic points, empowering viewers to develop into brokers of change.
6. Social Justice
The Harvest/La Cosecha serves as a strong platform for advocating social justice inside the context of kid agricultural labor in america. The movie’s exploration of migrant youngsters’s experiences straight confronts problems with human rights, financial inequality, and systemic exploitation. Understanding the connection between social justice and the movie requires inspecting its numerous sides.
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Youngster Labor Exploitation:
The movie exposes the exploitation of kids working lengthy hours in demanding circumstances for low wages, typically on the expense of their schooling and well-being. This exploitation represents a elementary violation of kids’s rights and highlights the pressing want for stronger authorized protections and enforcement inside the agricultural sector. Examples inside the movie embrace youngsters lacking college to work, enduring publicity to pesticides, and experiencing bodily exhaustion from demanding labor. These realities underscore the pressing want for social justice interventions to guard weak youngsters.
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Financial Inequality and Migrant Vulnerability:
The Harvest/La Cosecha illustrates how financial inequalities and systemic poverty inside migrant communities contribute to the perpetuation of kid labor. Migrant households typically lack entry to steady employment, reasonably priced housing, and important social providers, making them significantly weak to exploitation. The movie underscores the necessity for social security nets and financial alternatives that empower migrant households and cut back their reliance on youngster labor for survival. Examples akin to households residing in cramped, short-term housing and struggling to afford primary requirements illustrate the precariousness of their financial scenario and its connection to social justice considerations.
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Systemic Discrimination and Lack of Entry:
The documentary sheds mild on the systemic discrimination confronted by migrant communities, significantly in accessing schooling, healthcare, and authorized protections. These systemic limitations additional marginalize these communities and perpetuate cycles of poverty and exploitation. The movie advocates for coverage adjustments that tackle these inequalities and guarantee equitable entry to important providers for all, no matter immigration standing. Examples inside the movie spotlight the challenges migrant youngsters face in accessing constant schooling because of frequent strikes and language limitations, underscoring the necessity for social justice interventions to handle these systemic points.
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The Energy of Advocacy and Social Change:
The Harvest/La Cosecha itself acts as a device for social justice advocacy by elevating consciousness in regards to the plight of kid agricultural employees and prompting dialogue round essential reforms. The movie’s impression lies in its skill to attach particular person tales to broader societal points, mobilizing viewers to advocate for coverage adjustments and assist organizations working to guard youngsters’s rights. By sparking conversations and galvanizing motion, the movie contributes to broader social justice actions geared toward making a extra equitable and simply society. The movie’s distribution via numerous platforms and its engagement with audiences show its potential to catalyze social change.
By inspecting these interconnected sides of social justice, The Harvest/La Cosecha transcends a easy portrayal of kid labor and turns into a strong name to motion. The movie challenges viewers to confront the systemic inequalities inside the agricultural sector and to advocate for insurance policies and practices that defend the rights and well-being of all youngsters. Its concentrate on social justice offers a framework for understanding the complexities of kid labor and its broader implications for society. Finally, the movies energy lies in its skill to attach particular person tales to bigger societal points, empowering viewers to develop into brokers of change and contribute to a extra simply and equitable future.
7. Movie as Advocacy
The Harvest/La Cosecha exemplifies the facility of movie as a device for social advocacy. By documenting the realities of kid agricultural labor, the movie transcends mere remark and actively engages viewers in a vital dialogue about human rights, financial inequalities, and the necessity for social change. The movie’s strategic use of cinematic methods, coupled with its concentrate on particular person tales, amplifies its message and fosters a deeper understanding of complicated social points. This exploration delves into the particular methods The Harvest/La Cosecha makes use of movie as advocacy.
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Elevating Consciousness and Educating Audiences:
The movie’s main goal is to lift public consciousness in regards to the largely invisible situation of kid labor inside the U.S. agricultural sector. By means of intimate portrayals of migrant youngsters and their households, The Harvest/La Cosecha educates viewers in regards to the demanding working circumstances, financial hardships, and systemic challenges these youngsters face. By shedding mild on this hidden actuality, the movie encourages viewers to develop into extra knowledgeable shoppers and advocates for change. The movie’s accessibility via numerous distribution channels expands its attain and potential impression on numerous audiences.
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Humanizing the Subject and Fostering Empathy:
Quite than presenting statistics or summary ideas, The Harvest/La Cosecha focuses on particular person tales, permitting viewers to attach with the kids and households affected by youngster labor on a private degree. This humanization of the problem fosters empathy and encourages viewers to see these youngsters not as anonymous laborers however as people with goals, aspirations, and inherent rights. By showcasing their resilience, struggles, and hopes for the longer term, the movie breaks down stereotypes and fosters a deeper understanding of the human price of agricultural manufacturing. The youngsters’s narratives create an emotional reference to the viewers, growing the movie’s persuasive energy.
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Inspiring Motion and Selling Social Change:
The Harvest/La Cosecha goals to encourage motion and promote social change by offering viewers with concrete methods to get entangled. The movie’s web site and related outreach campaigns supply assets and details about organizations working to handle youngster labor, encouraging viewers to assist these efforts via donations, volunteering, or advocacy. By empowering viewers to take concrete steps, the movie strikes past awareness-raising and fosters lively participation within the motion for social justice. The movie’s calls to motion empower viewers to develop into brokers of change and contribute to making a extra simply and equitable society.
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Framing the Subject and Influencing Public Discourse:
The Harvest/La Cosecha strategically frames the problem of kid labor inside the broader context of human rights, financial inequality, and the U.S. meals system. This framing challenges viewers to think about the systemic elements that perpetuate youngster labor and to query the moral implications of their very own shopper decisions. By influencing public discourse and selling vital dialogue, the movie contributes to a broader societal shift in direction of larger social accountability and a extra simply meals system. The movie’s participation in movie festivals and group screenings additional amplifies its message and fosters broader public engagement with the problem.
These interconnected sides of The Harvest/La Cosecha show the effectiveness of movie as a medium for social advocacy. By combining compelling storytelling with a transparent name to motion, the movie empowers viewers to develop into knowledgeable, engaged residents and advocates for optimistic social change. The movies legacy extends past its inventive advantage, serving as a testomony to the transformative potential of documentary filmmaking in addressing vital social points and galvanizing collective motion.
Continuously Requested Questions on The Harvest/La Cosecha
This part addresses widespread questions and misconceptions surrounding the movie and the problems it raises, offering additional readability and context.
Query 1: The place was the movie shot, and the way lengthy did filming take?
Filming occurred over three years throughout a number of U.S. states, together with Florida, Michigan, and Texas, following the migratory patterns of the households featured.
Query 2: What are the particular legal guidelines relating to youngster labor in agriculture in america?
U.S. labor legal guidelines allow youngsters as younger as twelve to work in agriculture with parental permission, exterior of faculty hours, and for limitless hours. These laws are considerably much less stringent than these for kids working in different sectors.
Query 3: How does the movie painting the position of oldsters in youngster agricultural labor?
The movie presents a nuanced portrayal of oldsters going through tough financial circumstances. It highlights the agonizing decisions they make, typically prioritizing their youngsters’s instant survival wants over long-term academic alternatives. The documentary avoids judgment and as an alternative emphasizes the systemic pressures that contribute to those selections.
Query 4: What impression has The Harvest/La Cosecha had since its launch?
The movie has garnered vital acclaim and quite a few awards, sparking nationwide conversations about youngster labor and the U.S. meals system. It has been screened at movie festivals, colleges, and group occasions, elevating consciousness and prompting discussions about potential options. The Harvest/La Cosecha continues to function an advocacy device for organizations working to guard youngsters’s rights.
Query 5: What are a few of the key organizations working to handle the problems raised within the movie?
A number of organizations, together with the Affiliation of Farmworker Alternative Packages (AFOP), the Nationwide Farm Employee Ministry (NFWM), and the Youngster Labor Coalition (CLC), work to enhance circumstances for farmworkers and advocate for stricter youngster labor legal guidelines. These organizations supply assets, assist, and advocacy efforts geared toward addressing the systemic points highlighted in The Harvest/La Cosecha.
Query 6: What can people do to assist migrant farmworker households and fight youngster labor in agriculture?
People can assist migrant farmworker households and fight youngster labor by advocating for stronger labor legal guidelines, supporting organizations that present providers to farmworkers, making knowledgeable shopper decisions that prioritize honest labor practices, and educating themselves and others in regards to the points offered within the movie. Collective motion and sustained advocacy are essential for driving significant change inside the agricultural sector.
These responses supply a place to begin for deeper engagement with the complicated points surrounding youngster labor in agriculture. Continued exploration of those matters via additional analysis and engagement with advocacy organizations can result in a larger understanding of the challenges and potential options.
Additional sections will discover particular coverage suggestions and assets for these focused on taking motion.
Suggestions for Deeper Engagement with the Problems with Youngster Agricultural Labor
The next suggestions supply pathways for continued studying and motion impressed by The Harvest/La Cosecha, empowering people to contribute to optimistic change.
Tip 1: Analysis and Training: Deepen understanding of kid labor in agriculture via analysis. Discover respected sources just like the U.S. Division of Labor, the Worldwide Labour Group, and educational research on the subject. This data offers a basis for knowledgeable advocacy and motion.
Tip 2: Assist Organizations Devoted to Farmworker Rights: Quite a few organizations work tirelessly to enhance circumstances for farmworkers and fight youngster labor. Donating to or volunteering with teams like AFOP, NFWM, and the CLC straight helps their vital efforts. Collaboration amplifies impression.
Tip 3: Advocate for Coverage Change: Contact elected officers to advocate for stronger youngster labor legal guidelines and insurance policies that defend farmworker households. Assist legislative initiatives geared toward bettering working circumstances, making certain entry to schooling, and offering social security nets. Citizen engagement influences coverage selections.
Tip 4: Promote Consciousness inside Communities: Facilitate screenings of The Harvest/La Cosecha inside communities and academic establishments. Arrange discussions and shows to lift consciousness about youngster labor and encourage motion. Group engagement expands the attain of the movie’s message.
Tip 5: Assist Moral Consumption: Make aware shopper decisions that prioritize honest labor practices. Search out produce from farms that adhere to moral labor requirements and assist companies dedicated to employee well-being. Shopper demand influences market practices.
Tip 6: Interact in Dialogue: Focus on the problems raised within the movie with mates, household, and colleagues. Share info and assets to broaden consciousness and encourage others to take motion. Dialogue fosters vital pondering and collective motion.
Tip 7: Amplify Farmworker Voices: Create platforms and alternatives for farmworkers to share their tales and views straight. Assist initiatives that empower farmworkers to advocate for their very own rights and take part in shaping options. Amplifying marginalized voices promotes fairness and social justice.
These actions, when carried out collectively, can contribute considerably towards making a extra simply and equitable agricultural system. Every particular person effort, regardless of how small, performs a significant position in driving optimistic change.
The concluding part will summarize the important thing takeaways from this exploration of The Harvest/La Cosecha and its implications for social change.
Conclusion
The Harvest/La Cosecha offers an important lens via which to look at youngster labor inside the U.S. agricultural system. The movie’s exploration of migrant households’ experiences reveals the complicated interaction of financial hardship, systemic inequalities, and the human price of meals manufacturing. By highlighting the challenges confronted by youngsters working in agriculture, the documentary underscores the pressing want for social justice interventions, coverage reforms, and larger company accountability. The movie’s concentrate on schooling entry, poverty, and the vulnerabilities of migrant communities serves as a name to motion, prompting viewers to think about their roles inside a system that always prioritizes revenue over human well-being. The Harvest/La Cosecha’s effectiveness as advocacy lies in its skill to humanize complicated points, fostering empathy and galvanizing motion. The movie’s lasting contribution stems from its capability to attach particular person tales to broader societal challenges, prompting vital dialogue and driving significant change.
The movie’s legacy rests not solely on its inventive advantage but additionally on its potential to catalyze lasting social change. Continued engagement with the problems raised in The Harvest/La Cosecha stays essential for making certain a extra simply and equitable future for all. Sustained advocacy, knowledgeable shopper decisions, and coverage reforms geared toward defending weak employees are important for creating an agricultural system that prioritizes human dignity and ensures the well-being of future generations. The movie serves as a strong reminder of the interconnectedness of our meals decisions with the lives of those that labor to provide it, urging collective accountability and sustained motion towards a extra moral and sustainable meals system.
