AllMovie

Poultry processing is responsible for some of the toughest, dirtiest, and most dangerous jobs in the United States, and in the Deep South employers have long had trouble finding workers willing to work long hours in bloody processing plants for low wages (the average Mississippi poultry worker earns less than 18,000 dollars a year). However, in the 1990s, Mississippi poultry facilities found a new and reliable source of labor -- Hispanic immigrants, many undocumented and unable to speak English, who are willing to work punishing hours for meager pay, and are often in no position to complain to authorities about unsafe working conditions or unfair labor practices. While many of these workers already have mixed feelings about their jobs, their problems are compounded by long-standing racial tensions in Mississippi; in a place where blacks and whites have long been at odds, Hispanics often find they have few allies on either side, especially when the local economy is in a slump. Filmmaker John Fiege traveled to Mississippi to examine the lives of Hispanic immigrants working in the poultry industry, and Mississippi Chicken is a documentary that explores the many dangers of their work as well as the hopes and aspirations that fuel their desire to stay on in America. Shot on Super-8 film stock, Mississippi Chicken was screened in competition as part of the 2007 New York International Latino Film Festival.