Roads of Fire

Nathaniel Lezra’s documentary Roads of Fire puts the viewer squarely in the center of the immigration crisis in the United States but was made before the 2025 Trump administration’s new nightmares. He tells three stories from the points of view of different challenges in the effort to help migrants wishing to come to the U.S. The narrative threads are indirectly interwoven but give distinct glimpses into how people involved are managing the obstacles encountered in dealing with migrants. 

The first and most harrowing of the stories involves a human smuggler moving refugees to and through the 67-mile Darién Gap. The gap is an undeveloped land bridge that sits astride the border between Colombia and Panama. It consists of wild jungles and unforgiving terrain. There are no roads. The gap is also home to Cartels, criminals, and dissident military groups who have no compunction about robbing and killing those trying to make their way across the gap into Panama. All this said, there are still hundreds of thousands of migrants moving North across the Darién Gap each year, usually with their children. Many people die trying to cross. Lezra embeds the viewer with one group trying to leave Colombia and the treacherous boat travels across the Gulf of Uraba. They endure an expensive, traumatic odyssey before they reach the trail leading to the gap. 

“…three stories from the points of view of different challenges in the effort to help migrants…”

The second tale is of a woman who made the crossing of the Darién Gap and came to the U.S. to apply for asylum because of her violent and abusive ex-husband. She spends two years in fear and uncertainty and is helped by dedicated volunteers to get her case for asylum heard in court.

The last group we meet are the volunteers who pull out the stops daily to feed and shelter the growing numbers of people coming to this country for asylum. They work tirelessly and with a fervent fire for service to those in need. They are blocked at every turn by bureaucracy and hostility toward their efforts, but they persist. .