AllMovie

Documentary filmmakers Cynthia Hill and Charles Thompson offer a glimpse into the life of one particularly dedicated migrant worker with this portrait of sixty-six year old Mexican farmer Don Candelario Gonzalez Moreno who has been crossing the border to work as a farm laborer in the U.S. since the 1960s. Sure most of the men who participate in the U.S.'s H2A Guest Worker program may be forty years Moreno's junior or more, but that doesn't prevent the dedicated laborer from working long hours in cucumber, tobacco, and pepper fields in order to support his ailing wife back home. Invited back to Wester Farms in North Carolina year after year due to his dedication to the difficult work and positive attitude, Moreno struggles under difficult conditions that, this year, include oppressive heat and a severe drought. Shot in North Carolina and Mexico over the course of two years, The Guestworker offers an evenhanded look at the life of a hard working migrant worker at a time when American immigration policies are a recurring topic on the evening news.