SEPARATED

(Check out Chris Reed’s movie review of Separated, available now on VOD. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)

As we approach the start of Donald J. Trump’s second go at the presidency, it behooves us to revisit some of the policies enacted the first time around. Now that the 2024 election has passed, one could argue that the time for reflection is over, given the inevitability of the future. But what is the past if not prologue, and no future is set in stone.

Enter Errol Morris (American Dharma), one the great American documentarians of his generation. Adapting journalist Jacob Soboroff’s 2020 book Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, which shines a light on the Trump administration’s forced separation of migrant children and parents, Morris’ film—also entitled Separated—proves simultaneously sad and maddening. We like to think we’re a force for good on this planet (who doesn’t?), but in this case, we most definitely were not.

Morris interviews a number of people involved in the misguided policy, which was enacted to dissuade would-be immigrants and asylum-seekers from coming to the United States. Some were part of the resistance to it, while others were passive observers, and still others enablers. Which type of person would you be?

There’s no question that immigration—both legal and illegal, as the labels go—have dominated discourse in our nation for quite some time. Lost in much of the fuss is the human element of the issue. Those who undertake a long journey from their home country do so for a variety of reasons, most centering around the terrible conditions (poverty, gangs, violence) at home. Many come asking for asylum, turning themselves in at the border. There is nothing illegal about that.

But even if some have other motives, taking young children away from parents is an act of barbaric cruelty that no one should do without shame. Morris and his subjects explain the ins and outs of what happened when, who did (or didn’t) do what, and the many (lingering) consequences of the policy. One such ongoing repercussion: some children have still not been reunited with their families even years later.

Foremost among those outraged is Commander Jonathan White, formerly Deputy Director for Children’s Programs in the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). He was smack in the middle of the mess, and is here to tell us who is to blame. In addition to Trump himself, his former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and his former United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, White calls out former ORR Director Scott Lloyd, who for some reason made the ill-advised decision to also sit down for an interview. Hemming and hawing in response to questions is not a good look.

Supplementing the archival material and interviews is a series of reenactments, mostly following one mother and her tween son. These are less powerful than White’s anger and the footage from the actual events, but still helps the narrative. It’s a hard watch, but not nearly as difficult as the real thing. And since we’ll probably soon be seeing the sequel, which is never as fun as the original, it will most likely be much worse soon. Good times lie ahead, no doubt.

– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)

Greenwich Entertainment; Errol Morris; Separated

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