La crisis de los migrantes italianos y españoles Una comparación entre los documentales La Deutsche Vita, de Tania Masi y Alessandro Cassigoli, y En tierra extraña, de Icíar Bollaín

Abstract

The migration process has always been part of the history of humankind: the desire to succeed professionally and the will of change have always been moving factors for migrants to migrate and seek for better opportunities. Being this such an important social matter, economically and culturally, it has gained attention in the cinema field. In fact, a lot of movies and documentaries were produced, which portray all the implications that this change carries for thousands of immigrants. La Deutsche Vita, by Tania Masi y Alessandro Cassigoli (2013), and En tierra extraña, by Icíar Bollaín (2014) are the objects of the following comparative analysis. The phenomenon of migration implies a multitude of consequences: brain drain, migratory mourning, identity crisis and the confrontation and the elaboration of the culture shock. The main difference between the two groups of immigrants portrayed is the progress of the confrontation of their migratory mourning. On the one hand, the Italian migrants represented belong to a generation who emigrated voluntarily, and, after forty years, they have accustomed and adapted themselves fulfilling their journey through the culture shock. They adjusted to the German culture and to its merits and flows. On the other hand, the young Spaniards just started, unintentionally, their journey as migrants. They are portrayed in En tierra extraña as they are living their second stage of the culture shock characterized by feelings of frustration, nostalgia and irritation.