To The Other Side
DIR Natalia Almada | Mexico/USA | 2005 | 66 min
In Spanish with English Subtitles.
SHOWTIMES:
Thurs. Sept. 29 | 6 pm | Granville 7 Theatre 5
Thurs. Oct. 06 | 6 pm | Granville 7 Theatre 5
Thurs. Oct. 13 | 12:30 pm | Pacific Cinematheque
Reviewed by Christie Charles
It is exremely hard for the people of Mexico to find work in their home country. There are a few ways they can make money—like farming or shrimp fishing—but these jobs only pay a few pesos a day. Another way to earn a living is to smuggle drugs across the waters or to smuggle themselves across the border to the USA. Doing this, the people can make a few thousand dollars quickly but it is not easy and it is highly illegal.
We follow Magdiel who is making an honest living as a farmer with his family and selling soda but the money is just not enough. He is also a singer/songwriter trying to make it big. A lot of the youth today are inspired by the late Chalino, a singer who wrote songs ( a.k.a. corridos) about being a drug dealer and working for the mafia. Magdiel then decides that he is going to follow in Chalino’s foot steps and use a “coyote” to help smuggle him across the border to the USA so he can become the singer he has always dreamed of being.
I found this movie quite shocking because I never realized how much of a struggle it is to survive in the world today. The camera catches the emotions of its subjects very well and tells their stories without much dialogue. Despite being quite a serious piece, the documentary was actually very funny because no matter how dire the situation, there always seemed to be time for celebration.