SXSW Film
Reviews and interviews
By Richard Whittaker, Fri., March 20, 2009
The Least of These
Documentary Feature, Lone Star StatesD: Clark Lyda, Jesse Lyda
Regular Chronicle readers already know about the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility up in Williamson County that used to house immigrant and asylum-seeking families as their appeals go through the courts. That makes Hutto a prison for children and parents, none of whom has been convicted of anything. This quiet and measured documentary about the history of Hutto doesn't paint ICE or management firm Corrections Corporation of America as the bad guys. Instead, it shows them as victims of their own political and commercial hubris and highlights the bleak comedy of their attempts to justify a bad idea. But as the interviews with traumatized kids, parents disabused of the American dream, and the University of Texas lawyers that fight for them show, it doesn't matter how many Disney murals you paint on the walls – a prison is a prison.
Friday, March 20, 11am, Paramount
