Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos (1999)

The corporate globalization process on the US-Mexican border, the so-called 'new' Mexico, is contrasted with the traditional Mayan civilization in Chiapas. Since the uprising of the Zapatistas, Chiapas is constantly disturbed by motorized army convoys that trespass on Indian villages. The women washing clothes in the river may soon become the women inserting wires into telephone jacks at the factories in Juarez and Tijuana. The film shows the newly arrived workers, in the maquilas (foreign owned factories), and portrays the indigenous Maya struggling to maintain their land and their identity. Furthermore, there are interviews with maquila owners, developers and a foreign plant manager. The ideas of progress and destruction of a culture are analyzed in the context of over 200 abducted, raped and mutilated women in Juarez.

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