Logan — An Immigrant’s Story

Logan might be the best X-Men story told on the big screen to date. It was intimate, funny, and honest. It developed characters in a manner that is rarely done in ensemble superhero movies due to time constraints. It helps that Wolverine is the most fleshed out character in the current cinematic X-Men universe. Maybe, the head chopping, blood gushing, and limb slashing give those shiny claws the extra umf we have been begging for these last 17 years. However, there is no doubt, Logan is the best stand-alone Wolverine movie.

That said, the movie stands out because it is not afraid to tackle controversial issues among them immigration.

I don’t know if you caught it between the blood and cursing, but, at its core, Logan is an immigrant’s story. It really wasn’t hard to miss, really. I mean between the Mexican border crossings and the Spanish it was really, really hard to miss.

Logan, the character, is an immigrant. He was born in Canada. Born before the concept of modern day America. He is despised, feared, experimented, and hunted by the government. Logan has wandered the world and by the time he reaches this movie he is hiding in Mexico. Old. Broken. Sick.

Logan lives in Mexico but works in the USA. He can’t afford the medication that his elderly dependent (Professor Xavier) needs. Like many immigrants, Logan is looking for something he cannot achieve in his current country. Logan works in a richer nation (Limo chauffeur) to make ends meet. Donald Pierce, Transigen’s Chief Security, tells Logan, “he is a junkie now… I heard you was in Phoenix. But then last night some friends of mine from Texas called.” He probably travels with forged documents. He travels from state to state, as Pierce said, looking for work or running from trouble. Like many immigrants, trouble finds him even if he is not looking for it. Sometimes because they are waiting outside a gas station for work and evil men pray on the weak. Because he is a wanted individual, he cannot turn to law enforcement or other institutions for help. They will lock him up. An immigrant fears the police. Logan doesn’t fear anyone, true, he is a beast, but he still cannot get care—even when a doctor begs him to—for fear of being discovered.

The themes are there. Logan is an immigrant struggling not because he is nefarious or illegal or unwillingly to do things the right way. In fact, the system is actively set up against him. No one will deny this. Logan is other and because he is other people fear and shun him. Society purposely makes things hard for him like it makes things hard for undocumented immigrants not allowing them to drive, not allowing them to go to college at a reasonable price, not allowing them to serve their chosen country if desired, etc.

Logan is the anti-hero Americans love so much, ironically, he is undeniably an immigrant. And, specifically, the type of immigrant despised by so many today. The one that doesn’t follow the rules; that does not cross the border with the correct papers. The one that works with a fake Social Security number. The one that has to do what he has to do to get medicine for his family. Yes, his family because like Jason Concepcion said in “The ‘Logan’ Exit Survey,” “the X-Men aren’t a superteam; they’re a surrogate family.”

Then, there is Charles Xavier. An older man taken to a country he is not familiar with in order to flee from the mistakes of his past. He is fleeing because he lost control of a weapon he had never asked for and killed a lot of people. Yet, we are sympathetic because we know it was a mistake. We empathize with Charles and don’t ask him to face justice because it wasn’t his fault, but he is an immigrant fleeing justice none-the-less.

Then there are the children embodied in Laura’s character. A child fleeing violence. A child brought to a country with a foreign language. A child who has faced abuse. A child who is traumatized. A child that would claim asylum under any sane government but who cannot because she is classified as dangerous. A child whose life is in danger. A child who needs help. Laura is an immigrant. An immigrant like the 40,000–70,000 children who have poured into the US the last couple of years.

And, then, they are not even coming to America, because America is where the real danger lies. They are heading north towards Canada to safety. In that way, we see America not as the shining beacon of hope it has been to so many immigrants over its history. The America that engraves in copper, “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Rather, this is the America that builds walls and chases children who are fleeing death. The America that turns away refugees. Sure, it is not INS chasing the kids but you can see the comparison, right?

Logan tackles immigration with claws and blood. It makes us root for the immigrant, refugee. Maybe the real lesson Logan teaches is summed up in this exchange between Logan and Charles:

Logan, “who is she?”

Charles, “She’s like you. Very much like you. She needs our help.”

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