Watch "Harvest of Loneliness" with your Berkeley Public Library Card.
Overview:
Harvest of Loneliness, directed by Gilbert G. Gonzalez, Vivian Price, and Adrian Salinas, is a documentary that explores the Bracero program—a U.S.-Mexico labor agreement that brought over 5 million Mexican men to work in American agriculture and railroads from 1942 to 1964. The film challenges conventional narratives and reveals the human cost of this transnational labor system.
Historical Context
The Bracero program was launched during World War II, allegedly to address labor shortages. In reality, agribusinesses lobbied for the program to suppress unionization and secure a cheap, controllable labor force. Despite claims of mutual benefit, the program overwhelmingly favored U.S. growers, who dictated wages and working conditions with minimal oversight.
Becoming a Bracero
Recruitment began in rural Mexican villages, targeting poor peasant populations. Men often paid bribes ("mordidas") to local officials to be considered. After traveling long distances to recruitment centers, they endured harsh evaluations based on physical appearance, submissiveness, and manual labor experience. Many were rejected and returned home in debt.
Border Processing & Contracts
Selected workers were transported in livestock boxcars to border stations, where they were subjected to degrading health inspections, including being sprayed with DDT. Contracts promised fair wages, housing, and healthcare, but these guarantees were rarely honored. Most braceros signed documents they couldn’t read; enforcement was weak or nonexistent.
Life on the Job
Braceros performed grueling “stoop labor” for long hours under poor conditions. They lived in overcrowded camps, paid inflated prices for food, and received minimal medical care. Attempts to organize or protest were met with threats of deportation. Access to cheap labor also allowed agribusiness to suppress wages for farm workers, creating a system of widespread exploitation.
Families Left Behind
The film highlights the emotional toll on families in Mexico. Women became heads of households, raising children alone while waiting for uncertain remittances. Villages were emptied of men, and the psychological strain was profound. Many braceros returned with little to show for their labor, sometimes just a sewing machine or radio.
Corruption & Loss
One of the most egregious violations was the withholding of 10% of wages, supposedly saved in Mexican banks. Most braceros never saw this money. The film documents ongoing efforts by former workers to recover these lost funds, underscoring the long-term impact of the program’s broken promises.
Legacy & Relevance
The documentary connects the Bracero program to contemporary debates on guest worker policies. It argues that such programs are designed to benefit employers, not workers, and that the bracero experience offers a cautionary tale. Even after the program ended, undocumented migration by farm workers continued, driven by economic displacement and trade policies like NAFTA.
Key Takeaway:
Harvest of Loneliness reframes the Bracero program not as a wartime necessity, but as a calculated system of labor control. Through archival footage and personal testimony, it reveals the deep social, emotional, and economic consequences for Mexican workers and their families—and invites viewers to critically examine the legacy of guest worker programs today.
