As is often the case in Samir’s documentaries, the filmmaker’s personal or family histories are admirably intertwined with the  ‘Big History’,  the one that shows the incidence of private experiences in the society and culture of the countries that were most affected. In this case, the arrival of Samir’s family in Switzerland in the early 1950s (his Iraqi father had left his homeland because he was in great disagreement with the government) coincided with the great migration movement from Southern Europe to Northern Europe (particularly France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium). As a result of the  massive immigration,  the Socialist Party and the Swiss trade unions that had for years shaped the culture of the working class on the basis of principles of solidarity, since the late 1960s took on a  racist attitude toward immigrant workers. There is no longer any talk of working class, as the Swiss now all belong to the middle class while those who used to be called ‘workers’ are now simply ‘the foreigners’, the ones who are left to sleep in shacks, who cannot have their families join them, who bother women and commit most crimes. What makes this documentary particularly relevant is that the children and grandchildren of yesterday’s migrants have now become middle class themselves, but the tragedy experienced by their fathers does not prevent them from replicating the same racist behavior with the new migrants who, today,  driven by hunger and wars,  arrive in Europe from Africa. Once again the new migrants are exploited and relegated to do the most menial jobs, have no rights, live in dilapidated buildings and are the prime suspects for a theft, a fight, a murder. The film is constructed with a skillful blend of materials: institutional footage from the period, news reports,  television programs, firsthand accounts, a wide selection of valuable film and photographic archives, and excerpts from feature films of the time. A delightful, simple animation is entrusted with the narration of episodes from Samir’s life. Teresa Cavina