Don’t Tell Anyone is a phrase branded on the unconsciousness of all undocumented individuals. Mikael Shwer’s movie Don’t Tell Anyone explores an undocumented woman’s experience in the United States. The film highlights many themes, including immigrants’ constant fear, depression, and isolation. Similarly, the movie pinpoints the growing movement toward liberty and openness. Unfortunately, illegal or undocumented immigrants have to keep their mixed immigration status a secret. The focus of the film is immigration status and immigrants’ experiences.
Sanchez and Alexandra (130) explain that the film Don’t Tell Anyone focuses on Angy’s complex coming-of-age process in New York. The film tells the story of Any Rivera, a Colombian lady who moved to New York at the age of three with her mother. The secret of not having legal documents has resulted in immense fear. Angy arrived with her mother in the United States, fleeing poverty, civil war, and violence. There were two secrets Angy kept that is the secret of being undocumented and sexually abused. Angy and her mother have struggled for 20 years, striving to make ends meet in New York and to avoid deportation resulting from the complex and unjust immigration system.
The movie is told from a third-person perspective, but still, it drags the viewer into a pseudo-first-person perspective through videos and webcams. The film explores diverse conflicts between generations. Shwer has used video, webcam clips, and animations to explain how being undocumented negatively impacts the life of an immigrant. The most apparent negative impact is stigmatization, where they are considered illegal carriers. Despite her mother convincing her never to tell Anyone that she was undocumented, she used the stigma to voice her grievances and rally her cries. The film explores how Angy struggled to break the stigma by reaching out to the community and to unite to fight the stigma and experiences of illegal immigrants (Sanchez & Alexandra 133).
She also spoke in community rallies and participated in community events to help break the stigma. Riviera became an activist for undocumented youth immigrants. In her 20s, Angy explains why she became more vocal after graduating from high school; she explained that without a social security number, it was impossible to enjoy financial privileges granted to college students. Angy’s legal status prevented her from enjoying the privileges of American citizens, for which they had fled Colombia. Shwer uses animation to combine scenes of Angy’s home life. She also uses drawings to tell stories of her emotional journey. After watching the film, it is understood that immigrants are in a community where silence is necessary for survival. That means every immigrant has to keep their immigration status secret to avoid deportation. Undocumented immigrants are only promised the American dream if they keep their immigration status a secret.
The introduction part of the movie provides an overview of the history of immigration in the United States. It also explores how social immigration issues are approached in the film. The film captures several other people still in the shadows. Shwer also captures a substory about the silence of being abused and undocumented and not telling Anyone (Shwer, Season 28). Many immigrants opt to keep it a secret to achieve the American dream. The film is not only about immigration issues; it also explores human rights; despite being undocumented, Shwer realized that immigrants suffer many problems apart from immigration. In the film, Angy suffered sexual abuse aside from immigration issues. There are other issues, which include poverty and physical and emotional abuse faced by immigrants. Angy’s story helps us understand the complicated sections in immigration laws and the numerous restrictions on the path to citizenship in the United States.
The theme of fear is explored in the film; according to the film, deportation is the biggest fear for immigrants. Riviera explained that fear shaped all aspects of her life; this is what many other undocumented immigrants experience. Similarly, these people face the constant fear of discovery; thus, they cannot enjoy their freedom; they call it Living Under the Shadow (Shwer, Season 28). Riviera explained that traveling outside New York City increased the chances of detection; thus, they had to stay within New York; this also happens to many immigrants, and due to the lack of freedom of movement, they cannot enjoy some privileges. The film also sees Angy explaining that she was granted her freedom only after she reported that her stepfather had sexually abused her. Angy explained celebrating the path to citizenship and also questioned the US immigration system that only treats undocumented immigrants as humans after they become crime victims. According to the film, Angy is just one of the undocumented people. These people become isolated and cannot enjoy the unearned American privilege. As the film unfolds, it becomes clear that speaking about immigrants’ experiences and illegal status allows Angy to understand orthodox non-citizenship critically.
In summary, Angy provides a vivid look into her emotional walk to become an American citizen. Most undocumented immigrants experience harsh conditions that negatively impact their lives. They live in fear and isolation throughout their lives because they fear deportation. Immigrants enter the United States illegally because they want to achieve the American dream; they have to persevere amidst all negative experiences.
References
Sanchez, Alexandra J. “The Group Experience of Migrant Citizens.” Discourses of Migration in Documentary Film: Translating the Real to the Reel. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. 129-148.
Shwer, M. (2015, September 21). No le digas a nadie. In POV Season 28. PBS.
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