Loading descriptions...
A chilling portrait of six months in the life of a notorious Central-American gang.
In San Salvador, El Salvador, 2,000 miles from Los Angeles'
Eighteenth Street, a gang known as "18" governs its territory like
an armed militia. In the mid 1990s, thousands of Salvadoran
nationals living illegally in the U.S. were deported to their
homeland. Some took L.A. gang culture back with them to a country
beset by poverty and awash in arms. Organizing support for gang
members in need, meting out justice to those who would defy the
gang's code and waging an endless vendetta against its enemies, 18
is helping to make El Salvador one of the most violent and
crime-ridden countries in the world. "18 With a Bullet"
presents a chilling portrait of six months in the life of this
notorious Central-American gang. By the end of the film, most of
the gang members profiled - Slappy, Sochi and 18-year old Travieso
- are in jail, serving long sentences for their crimes.
For this re-broadcast, WIDE ANGLE follows the film with an
update that tells another side of this transnational story. Like
many Salvadoran gang members, Travieso was separated from his
mother when she went north to find work in the United States.
Today, she runs a successful cleaning business in the U.S. and
holds temporarily legal immigration status, but her sacrifices and
the remittances sent home have not managed to give Travieso the
better life she had dreamed for him. This mother's story paints a
nuanced portrait of one immigrant's experience and the sometimes
heartbreaking difficulties of life stretched across borders.