Best movie ever!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

In light of the invasion at the Southern border of the United States going on now, my niece suggested I watch this movie. My heart is saddened and heavy for these children. I see that movie was made several years ago so I wonder where are they today? Did they ever actually make it into the country? The abject poverty in each country among the people is horrifying. The family conditions that these children grew up in is horrifying. The pain that these children grew up in is horrifying. It's hard to even comprehend children having to live this way. The two 9-year-olds were heart-breaking. What happened to them? Where is Kevin today? What is he doing? Why don't the leaders of these countries do something for their people? I know there is corruption with their governments and drug cartels, but these leaders can't change that? Or won't? Yes, America is a nation of immigrants. America has a system for immigrants to come here. I have family who immigrated to this country in the past several years. They came here legally and worked to do what they needed to become citizens. We can't just let THOUSANDS of unaccompanied children stream into our country as they are doing right now on our Southern borders!! It is impossible for us to take care of them all. We can't sustain that as a country!! Certainly our immigration system needs updating but we HAVE to secure our borders FIRST.

Children who live in poverty and wretched conditions climb on to freight trains bound for the U.S. in hopes of a better life. When they talk of the U.S. they dream of television realities, tall buildings, beautiful people, the land of plenty, smiles all the while on their faces. But on the inside these kids are filled with pain. To reach that dream, they go through hell. Burglarized and beaten all the while hungry with the potential of being raped and murdered, all for the sake of trying to get a job in the U.S. to feed their family or go to school. This 16 year old boy talks about witnessing a mother and daughter being raped by 15 men and there's this tear in his eye that can't quite drop. His pain is suppressed. All these children attempt to drown their pain, to bury it, all the while hoping, praying, for that one chance that they may have a better life. It's hard to review this movie and not want to talk about immigration policy. But I won't, I'll let the movie do that for me and hopefully people will begin to open their eyes to some of the harsh realities the U.S. immigration policy creates. Here's hoping for a better tomorrow.

First, this film does not get into the pro- and anti-illegal immigrant debate. It simply chronicles the journey of several children (most from Central America) riding the "Beast," a Mexican train that runs north of the border with Guatemala. Many people looking to enter the US illegally will board the train (riding on top, many fall off and are crushed to death) to make the treacherous and often deadly trip. The children are from 9 to 17 years old and are either looking to reunite with family in the US, or seeking a better life away from extreme poverty in their home countries. It's difficult to imagine that anyone can watch this and not feel heartbroken - these are children, some of whom have been abandoned and have no idea the danger they face in their quest for a new life. During their trip, the kids witness two people falling off the train and getting crushed, they are robbed, caught by immigration authorities in Mexico and deported back home, and one witnesses two women being repeatedly raped in a boxcar. This documentary is very well done, and is an example of some of the best unbiased film-making of a difficult subject I have ever seen. It is definitely worth watching - a shot of realism that made me more grateful than ever that I was born in America and have it very good.

Objectivity is hard to come by as one watches this film about children wandering away from homes that cannot sustain their basic needs. The knowledge that none of it is fictional or manipulated for any effect other than that of cinematic value heightens the viewer's deep involvement with the children themselves. Nothing seems artificial. The story is spontaneous, dictated by real events rather than "directed."Of course there will be critics who lurk behind the camera's eye, as it were, finding fault with presumed motives and attaching political meanings to what they wish beforehand to find in the facts of this film's production. It takes a hard heart, however, to dismiss the simple premise that children ought not to be confronted with the perils of an adult world without the stabilizing presence and guidance of someone -- anyone -- able and willing to step in and help.Think of it this way: If these children were from any place other than Mexico or Central America, would that premise be easier to accept? What if they were French, English, German, or American kids riding freight trains together with all manner of adult men of the most desperate kind?It is not my intention to construct a straw man, but I find it reprehensible to hear as I so often do living on the Mexican border ignorant opinions chastising foreign people and governments for creating as it were the conditions that put children in such peril. The point should be to find ways of alleviating the suffering and preventing the deaths rather than creating draconian laws and policing borders. There are ways to do it without continuing to put up with the conditions we see in this film.It is withal a beautifully constructed piece of cinema, a real must see.