Work Harder (2009)

Work Harder documents the everyday lives of Acela and Alizon, two single women who make up Los Angeles' working poor. These women provide a window into the human stories behind the policies of welfare reform and the low wage world. Alizon is a Latina mother of four. She works long hours at her minimum wage job at Kmart to support her children. Between shifts at the K-Cafe she juggles motherhood and saving to smuggle her Honduran husband illegally into the United States. Acela is a feisty Chicana welfare mother of two. She is energetic, resilient and eager to work. She finds herself at the mercy of the welfare system while holding down multiple jobs and continuing her pursuit of a college education. The film separately follows them on their own individual paths to a better life for themselves and their children. They teach us that rebellion does not have to be macho, but instead can be a determined whisper when one's voice is too small to be heard.