The locale is Honduras and Mexico. I think that in the movies set in Latin America, many movies I saw depict miserable situation of those countries. In "Innocent Voices"(2004), 12 years boys in El Salvador are forced to enter the army; In "Maria Full of Grace" (2004), A Colombian girl becomes a drug mule; In "City of God" (2002), children become gang and drug dealers.
And I saw more movies than before about people trying to escape from hopeless countries, not only Latin America, and to migrate to richer countries.
This movie has all those elements (gang, lawlessness, murder, violence, drugs, illegal immigrants, child crimes) and adds a puppy love.
So what is special in this movie? This is the illegal immigrants who moves north on the roof of freight trains. Now it has become a regular scene. Along the railway, there are those people who support the immigrants, and the gang who preys on the vulnerability of the immigrants. Sometimes, the freight trains stop long time so that the immigrants can have foods and take shower, and it looks as if the trains deliberately carry them too. I investigated in the internet and found that every year over 100 thousand people try to enter the USA, and about 6 out of 10 of female have sexual abuse on the way. Indeed, they risk their life on the journey. The gangs not only rob the immigrants, but also kidnap women or children and get ransom from their relatives in the US. If ransom money does not come, the gangs send them the fingers as warning.
Director Fukunaga shows us that such awful situation is repeated in real world. As a gang says, the lead actress Paulina Gaitan is as pretty as Selma Hayek. The performance of Edgar Flores is persuasive. I could have empathy on those migrants through this road movie.
And I saw more movies than before about people trying to escape from hopeless countries, not only Latin America, and to migrate to richer countries.
This movie has all those elements (gang, lawlessness, murder, violence, drugs, illegal immigrants, child crimes) and adds a puppy love.
So what is special in this movie? This is the illegal immigrants who moves north on the roof of freight trains. Now it has become a regular scene. Along the railway, there are those people who support the immigrants, and the gang who preys on the vulnerability of the immigrants. Sometimes, the freight trains stop long time so that the immigrants can have foods and take shower, and it looks as if the trains deliberately carry them too. I investigated in the internet and found that every year over 100 thousand people try to enter the USA, and about 6 out of 10 of female have sexual abuse on the way. Indeed, they risk their life on the journey. The gangs not only rob the immigrants, but also kidnap women or children and get ransom from their relatives in the US. If ransom money does not come, the gangs send them the fingers as warning.
Director Fukunaga shows us that such awful situation is repeated in real world. As a gang says, the lead actress Paulina Gaitan is as pretty as Selma Hayek. The performance of Edgar Flores is persuasive. I could have empathy on those migrants through this road movie.