This week we began to watch the film “Dirty Pretty Things” while I haven’t seen much of the film yet, one of the details that I really wanted to talk about was how Okwe was trained to be a doctor but because he was an illegal immigrant he was forced to work as a cab driver and hotel worker. While I do not know the specific circumstances that lead Okwe to flee to London, immigrants not being able to practice what they are trained to do seems to be a common theme in both this movie and Brand’s novel. Like Tyuen’s parents Okwe is unable to help the community as large because of circumstances. The fact that so many immigrants are not allowed to continue to be doctors or engineers, just because they were not trained in American or European schools has always seemed bizarre to me. If people have the ability to make the society they live in better should they government not allow this and help this people in order to reestablish themselves. For example in the case of Tyuen’s mother being unable to become a doctor again because of the language barrier perhaps the government should put in place programs that help immigrants learn to speak English so that they can pass their equivalency exams, and began helping their communities and contributing to society.

Another thing that I would like to bring up in relation to Dirty Pretty Things, is the issue of illegal immigrants. In the movie Okew is clearly not a bad guy he has a pretty strong sense of right and wrong and seems to be pretty respectful and kind. Howeveer because of the laws in Britain he isn’t actually allowed to be there forcing him to participate in illegal activities such as identity theft or swapping and not alerting the police to illegal ongoings at the hotel. He also gets pills from his friend who works at the morgue and gives them to various people. Because he has very little power, people who are in higher up positions are able to exploit him into keeping their shady secrets and giving them free medical care. This shows the inherent flaw in the immigration system. I’m not saying that there should be no vetting process I do believe that the government must be careful in who they allow to take up residence in the country, however obviously they aren’t stopping anything instead the system is set up so that people may enter the country illegally and then be exploited because of their precarious situations as well as get taken advantage of. The governments need to find a way to protect not persecute these people as they are often the most vulnerable and in need of aid.