“This might be dangerous. I discovered that one of the nearest theaters to me, which is also one of the cheaper ones, has a Dave and Busters in the same complex. After considering movie hopping (also one of the few where I could feasibly do so), I instead opted to spend 30 bucks playing that Wizard of Oz game I’m obessed with and its Star Trek equivalent. But this blog isn’t about arcade games, it’s about the movie I saw before playing the arcade games.
I wanted to see this because it was framed as a real life thriller. A problem I often have with the genre (although its more true for horror) is that so many of the scenarios are rather unrealistic, so it only allows me to feel up to a certain level of fear. Now Desierto may not depict a situation I’m likely to find myself in, but it’s one that feels like it could potentially happen.
Gael Garcia Bernal (love him) stars as an immigrant crossing the border into the US. While trekking thru the desert, his party is attacked by an American (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who caused me to spend the whole movie going back and forth trying to figure out if it really was him) wielding a rifle, killing most of the group on sight. Bernal is stuck in an open and unknown space with harsh elements and a zealot with a gun and a good shot. Oh and a dog. (PS-I don’t wanna give a spoiler, but as an animal lover there was one particular scene that was tough to watch).
The downfall of a film like this is that there’s no real plot or character development, so your pacing and action need to be spot on. We got pretty close. I definitely felt the urgency of the situation, and the film did a good job of conveying the sense of danger. While there were a few lulls, I found my mind filling in the gaps thinking about the current political state for immigrants. The movie was careful about not being too preachy with its themes, while still being clear on where it sided. I had some moderately profound thoughts while watching, but I guess Dave and Busters erased them.
Desierto – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n”