Stream It Or Skip It: ‘After the Raid’ on Netflix, a Documentary Portrait of a Community Gutted by an Immigration Raid

Netflix adds to its library of politically current and relevant nonfiction with After the Raid, a short documentary focusing on a small community gutted by a 2018 immigration-enforcement raid. It assumes we’ve seen the news headlines — 97 undocumented workers were arrested during an ICE raid on a meatpacking plant in Grainger County, Tennessee — and delves into the emotional and spiritual impact of the event.

AFTER THE RAID: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: In this small rural community, a humble Catholic church is the hub. It’s where Yahel and Cristino were married in 2015. It’s where the primarily Mexican and Guatemalan residents have their children baptized. It’s where locals come together to learn the Bible and volunteer their services.

The church’s priest visits Yahel and prays with her. Cristino was rounded up with the other workers and taken away from his wife and children. She feels lonely, but Father Steve reminds her that she’s not alone. An unnamed middle-aged woman, a member of Father Steve’s congregation, reached out to him: “I have room,” she said, so Pancho and Julia and their family moved in. Pancho and the woman cook burgers and fajitas on the same grill, joking and laughing together.

One day, Father Steve’s sermon references Matthew 7:5, specifically the part about noticing the splinter in your brother’s eye, but not the wooden beam in your own. Community members talk about the failings of the immigration system — it doesn’t help immigrants and it doesn’t help employers. Director Rodrigo Reyes shows the mixed community together at a high-school football game, and a church potluck. Storm clouds gather over a cluster of rusty and worn modular homes. The rain falls on everyone like an indiscriminate baptismal. What will happen next in this town? Will Yahel and her children ever see Cristino again?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Add After the Raid to the list of Netflix short docs with serious cultural and political relevance. It and Fire in Paradise, Little Miss Sumo, Birders and After Maria tackle a variety of issues, including immigration, racism, sexism and climate change.

Memorable Dialogue: The unnamed woman gets a little choked up when she quotes scripture: “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we see you thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you naked and clothe you?… And the Lord replies, ‘When you have done the least of these my brethren, you have done this for me.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Notably, the words “ICE” and “Trump” are never mentioned during the film, and the narrative excludes details of the setting. (A quick Google search answered some of those questions.) This is all purposeful — Grainger County could be anywhere in the U.S., Reyes asserts, and adding potentially inflammatory language only distracts from the film’s humanitarian message: Families cease to be families when they’re apart. The law is the law, but is it compassionate? The subtext of Father Steve’s sermon on hypocrisy is empathy. The woman housing Pancho and his family understands the concept, and acts on it.

Reyes refuses to address issues directly, and After the Raid is all the better for it. He only employs talking heads when they have something deep and insightful to say. His mini-profiles of people stir up the dark clouds of uncertainty that hover over the community. And he doesn’t shy away from beautifully composed shots that add a bit of visual poetry to the film — the rain will fall, the world keeps turning, we are all children of the Earth. He’s putting the big picture into focus.

Our Call: STREAM IT. After the Raid is a quietly powerful film, a portrait of a community in flux. It gets to the heart of the matter and urges us to cease being divisive, to come together and understand each other better.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream After the Raid on Netflix