Develiker terrible... so disappointed.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

tlpachec I saw this movie at the Orange County Latin Film Festival in Santa Ana and all I can say is that this movie is so so strong. While showing the dangers of the world of border crossing, Davis also shows the sacrifices parents make to give their children a better world to live in. The world of border crossing is something you hear about all the time, especially if you live in California, however, what these people actually go through is not something you see everyday. This movie puts it into your face, putting you into the shoes of Guapo, Oso, Viejo, and Tigre, and the fates of their families into your minds. This movie made me look at the immigrants around me in a different light. This is definitely an amazing movie to check out.

wlm3851 I saw Mojados twice at the SXSW last year and once in director's home town 7 miles from the border. I too, like Davis have lived on the border all my life and have been aware of the many illegals for years. As a child living in Brownsville we had an illegal maid a couple of times each week while living next door to a Border Patrolman. During my college years I traveled into the interior of Mexico and witness the poverty the people experienced. At that time you could hire a man or burro for 80 cents US a day, if you wanted an oxen it $1.20US because it could do more work. Today things have improved but not much. It is no wondered that these people will risk their lives to come to the US to work for minimum wage which is more per hour that they could make back home in a day. They live on almost nothing while here and send most of their money back home, often allowing themselves to be caught around Christmas so the will be deported by home. Davis' movie introduced us the four men, a seasoned traveler and Guide, another who had made the trip before, and two firs timer, who really had no idea what they were getting in to. Davis gave us a brief glimpse of their families and one could see they like most Americans just wanted to provide a better life for their children and wives. Though I have lived on the border all my life I never realized the dangers and hardships these people go through to come to the US, and don't be mistaken I don't approved of their actions but understand their motives.Davis' style of being fly following the bunch without interaction gave the film much more of an impact. The mere fact that he ate what they ate and drank what they drank, and carried an 85 pound backpack of film and batteries, yet was able to keep up in spite of the dashes across the highways, climbing the fences, and weaving through cactus, watching for rattlesnakes and border patrol all through the tiny viewfinder of a video camera. To be out there without enough water or food for the normal three days, the trip usually takes, much less the sis days they took this time. Traveling without a compass, just using landmarks such a radio towers to find their way made this trip that would have been about 66 miles in a to more that 120 miles by foot, a long and dangerous one.The other side of the story was told by the rancher Davis interviewed in Arizona. The rancher told of broken fences, that let his cattle roam on to the highway where they may get hit and killed and cause him to be libel for the car crash. The illegals also throw away the plastic bags they carry their food in, which the cattle eat and get sick and die. The rancher also told of finding illegals dead, either from illness or from being beaten. Women may be raped, beaten and left to die.This comment turned out much longer that I intended but I felt the movie was a real eye opener. Davis' technique of staying back and just filming what happened, kept it real and unadulterated.I say 'great movie' and I have already ordered my copy.

ahorets I was really happy to discover a film like this one. I first heard about this film at the Mill Valley Film Fest but I had missed the screening so I was lucky to get a chance to see it at the Woodstock Film Festival. When the screening was over I sat there in awe and with tons of questions. The premise behind the documentary is a guy traveling with migrants as they try to illegally enter the U.S. by crossing the Texas desert. The director, Davis, seems to employ the Pennebaker style of realism with a jittery camera and the frankness common to a Maysles documentary. At first this seems to be too much, but once the film gets going you realize it was the only way to capture this secret world. Throughout the film the threat of death and getting lost in the desert is omnipresent.My only real critique of the movie is the lack of dialogue, but during the question and answer session the director mentioned that this was the nature of the characters. For better or worse he said he chose not to prod them for conversation in an effort to keep it as real as possible. In this day and age where it's common to see a director insert him or herself into his or her movie, it was refreshing to see this young director employ restraint and remain behind the camera.

volplog Tom Davis did an amazing job with this documentary. The story of 4 men from Mexico suffering their way across the border into the United States to find work and support their families back home was gut-wrenching and intense. I found myself intrigued and appalled at the willingness of these men (and the director) to plow through the dehumanizing process of drinking unsanitary water, sleeping in cactus brambles, and hiding from the border patrol, with the ultimate goal of being illegally exploited by American companies for cheap labor. The documentary is nothing if not politically poignant considering the times we live in. The last scene in particular, while the credits are beginning to run, is especially telling of the nature of illegal immigration and the dangers these people face today. Overall, a very inspired and powerful film.