valley of ashes
by Douglas Messerli
Ramin Bahrani (screenwriter and
director) Chop Shop / 2007
American born Ramin Bahrani, of
Iranian descent, has become one of our country’s most noted film directors,
devoting most of his brilliant works to the poor immigrants who, despite their
magnificent displays of epic ambition and attempts at assimilating into
American culture, are outsiders who have a near impossible time at being
allowed “in” or simply given any open opportunity.
His first film, Man Push Cart presented
a near Sisyphean struggle simply for daily survival. His second film, Chop Shop, presents with a much younger—and amazingly tougher—young
Here, for a cheap and quick fix, anyone with the money can get a quick
paint job for their car, or have a broken mirror, bumper, or front window
fixed. The material used is mostly stolen from other autos subject to overnight
chop-ups. But daily, hundreds of desiring drivers enter the zone to find the
right shop to fix up their cars. Ale gets $5.00 for every car he steers to Rob’s
chop, and further money for helping run for materials and actually working with
the professionals on the repairs. It is a Dickensian world in which there are
utterly no questions about the use of child labor.
Yet, Rob is kinder than most, providing his young uneducated laborer a
small room for both himself, and, when she arrives, after having temporarily
left the country, his sister, Isamar (Isamar Gonzales). If Ale is already a
street-wise kid, Isamar is a dreamer, under the influence of her always
promising friend, Lila, who, to keep Isamar in her loop, provides her with
cheap fake jewelry and equally fake shoes, which Ale, who knows the territory,
demeans. He hates his sister’s friend, and attempts to steer her away from her
influence, arranging for a job for the somewhat lazy Isamar on a nearby food
truck.
But Ale is more than the tough exterior he exudes. He is a true dreamer who, quite amazingly, and secretly, is saving every cent he makes to buy a run-down food truck so that he and his sister can create their own lives through a magic restaurant on wheels.
Through his young friend Carlos, he meets a man who is willing to sell a
dilapidated truck for only $4,500—a sum almost unimaginable for a young boy,
but which he is utterly determined to raise. Yes, he too reverts to what some
might describe as criminal behavior,
As in all of Bahrani’s films I’ve seen,
any hope that these endlessly-hoping figures might have is done in by the
dominant society. Carlo’s uncle has been willing even to cheat a young boy, as
Ahmad reveals that the truck, even if it were able to be refurbished on the
outside, would cost more than $10,000 to transform into a permit-passing food
truck.
The totally believing boy has been duped, and has no choice but to offer
it, too, up to the chop shop for $1,000. He has almost nothing to show for his
months of sacrifices. And he cannot possibly offer his sister a way out of her
distillatory life.
Over the years, Bahrani has become a major voice of the American
conscience; and I only wish that all of our leaders might see and feel for his
films the way I do.
Los Angeles, February 26, 2017
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (February 2017).
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