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Such a frustrating disappointment

hyped garbage

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Though Documented is no classic, I can't let Timlin-4's 'review' of the film go unanswered. Point by point: 1)Vargas did not watch Anne of Green Gables to 'develop a likable' persona'. Timlin-4's implication is clearly that this was a devious step Vargas took to insinuate himself into 'Real America'. 2)He did not 'pretend to be an orphan to get sympathy'. This is simply a lie, unsupported by anything in the film. 3) He did not 'assume... a bisexual nature to appeal to both male and female allies'. Vargas is gay, but did not realize it until mid way through high school. 4) In no way, shape or form does he become a 'con artist'. 5)Though Vargas did 'use forged documents and lie', he stopped doing so in 2011. Indeed, this decision to no longer use forged documents and lie is precisely what the film is about. 6)Vargas did not 'launch...a desperate campaign to normalize illegal migration', he made common cause with an already active campaign for undocumented children. 7) Perhaps most perniciously, Timlin-4 claims Vargas 'call(s) for the dissolution of the very nation he wants to be accepted by'. This is a lie, and a libelous one at that. 7) The final sentence of his 'review' makes no sense, and ends without punctuation, suggesting Timlin-4 was too angry to complete the project at hand: 'It may be too late to save Vargas, but deporting him would send an important message that would save countless children '. Vargas does not need saving (he's won a Pulitzer Prize for gosh sakes), and his deportation would save countless children...how? Please, if you're interested in the subject of immigration, watch this film...and ignore timlin-4's inaccurate and distorted essay.

Obviously this is a one-sided documentary, but it does shed some light on how lax immigration policies produce damaged people. In the hope that he will generate money for his family, Vargas is easily smuggled into the country and enrolled in school. But it seems a little too easy, even the most backwards government must eventually discover such a violation, so he lives under the expectation that he will be caught. He studies Anne of Green Gables to develop a likable persona, pretends to be an orphan to get sympathy, and possibly even assumes a bisexual nature to appeal to both male and female allies. He becomes a con-artist and practices as a journalist. And he drifts away from his mother, resentful about how she abandoned him, and ashamed at how US immigration policy made her a deadbeat even in her own distant country. Meanwhile Vargas continues to use forged documents and lie to evade the law. These violations would get a natural-born American a multi-year prison sentence, but still Vargas faces no consequences. Surely the bill will come due, so he launches a desperate campaign to normalize illegal migration by publicly admitting his status, and calling for the dissolution of the very nation he wants to be accepted by. If there is no country, there are no aliens. If only his grandparents were arrested and he was sent back to his mother when he reached the border none of this would have ever happened, and everyone would have been better off. It may be too late to save Vargas, but deporting him would send an important message that would save countless children