 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Desierto • Year: 2015 • Country: Mexico, France • Director: Jonás Cuarón • Main cast: Gael García Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alondra Hidalgo • Runtime: 94 minutes • Production company: Esperanto Kino, Itaca Films, CG Cinéma • TRAILER |
I heard someone described this movie as “Donald Trump’s wettest dream”. This sentence is as full of black humor as is a cruel reality that is going on in the mind of many people nowadays. Because this film takes place in the border between Mexico and the United States of America, but a situation like this is sadly happening constantly in any continent of the world.
The plot of Desierto is as simple as blunt: A group of illegal immigrants trespassing the U.S.-mexican border get hunt by a sadistic vigilante armed with a rifle, a hunting dog, many many bullets and many many time and patience. Like Predator (1987) but this time is not interspecies, this time is just humans against humans.
Writer director Jonás Cuarón is the son of Alfonso Cuarón, the man behind big hits like Children of Men (2006) or Y tu mamá también (2001), so we can assume he is not a novice in the movies universe. In fact, he shares together with his father the writing credits in the Academy Awards biggest winner of the 2014 edition, Gravity (2013). So following the family steps, Jonás Cuarón delivers a very well filmed story about a subject that many people would find extremelly unconfortable to be an entertainment feature film.
Besides the good performances, excelent photography of the californian deserts and thrilling direction and editing, what I enjoyed more of this movie is how cold blooded it’s filmed. Action starts almost without a warning. The bad guy shoots the mexicans for no reason, and he never hesitates in his purpose. The mexicans can only think of running away, trying to save their asses, but not really knowing what they are doing or what will happen next. Everything is so chaotic that the feeling of simplicity makes this very risky film even more attractive. No complicated stories, no plot twists, no surprise characters or situations, only a group of people trying to keep on breathing chased by the vicious vigilante and his ruthless dog.
It is due to this simplicity that it is kind of hard to give Desierto a higher rate than a 6, because what it offers it’s very well done and keeps you glued to your chair for one hour and half in complete tension. But it’s nothing more than a massive desert chase. But a very enjoyable, that’s for sure.
RATE: 6/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3147312
