At the Movies: Spare Parts
In the new film Spare Parts (2015), four Mexican immigrant high school students form a robotics club. With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts and a dream, this rag tag team goes up against the country’s reigning robotics champion, MIT. George Lopez, Marisa Tomei, and Jamie Lee Curtis are in the film.
While the movie tells an inspirational story reminiscent of David versus Goliath, Joshua Davis in the New York Times tells the heartbreaking real life stories of the four immigrants and their efforts to succeed in college after winning the robotics championship. Davis, who was the author of the book Spare Parts, was recently interviewed on Capital Public Radio.
The real life protagonists of “Spare Parts. Photo courtesy of Capital Public Radio
UPDATE (Jan. 18): I saw the film over the Martin Luther KIng Jr. weekend. Despite being a bit melodramatic at times, it tells an engaging, thought-provoking, and inspiring story that leaves one wondering “How can we treat people like this?” Spare Parts made me think about many things besides the main story, such as what it would be like to be the parent of an undocumented child (including with a U.S. ciitizen child who may have many more opportunitiues), what it would be like to have your spouse deported (Esai Morales’ resorts to alcohol in the movie), and the challenges of mixed immigration status relationships.
KJ