''Desierto'' is a 2015
thriller drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film co-written and directed by
Jonás Cuarón
Jonás Cuarón Elizondo (born 1983) is a Mexican film director, screenwriter, producer, editor and cinematographer. He is the son of the Academy Award-winner Alfonso Cuarón by the latter's first wife, Mariana Elizondo. Jonás Cuarón
studied ...
.
It was produced by Cuarón together with his father
Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
and his uncle
Carlos, and distributed by
STXfilms. The film stars
Gael García Bernal
Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and producer. He is best known for his performances in the films '' Bad Education'', '' The Motorcycle Diaries'', '' Amores perros'', ''Y tu mamá también'', ''Babel'', '' Coco'', ...
(also executive producer) and
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan (born April 22, 1966) is an American actor of television and film, best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2022), for which he has received critical acclaim. He ...
. It was shown in the Special Presentations section of the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival
The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's '' Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Na ...
,
where it won the Prize of the
International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations, and was selected as the Mexican entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
Plot
A group of Mexican migrant workers seek a better life by crossing the US border illegally; when the truck carrying them breaks down in the middle of nowhere, the driver points the migrants and his partner Mechas in the direction of the United States and wishes them luck. Moises (
Gael García Bernal
Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and producer. He is best known for his performances in the films '' Bad Education'', '' The Motorcycle Diaries'', '' Amores perros'', ''Y tu mamá también'', ''Babel'', '' Coco'', ...
) is also a member of the migrants and follows as the group splits in two while trying to pass the border.
Sam (
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan (born April 22, 1966) is an American actor of television and film, best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2022), for which he has received critical acclaim. He ...
) is a merciless, rifle-toting vigilante who, with his faithful but vicious
Malinois dog
The Belgian Shepherd (also known as the Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Malinois, or the Chien de Berger Belge) is a breed of medium-sized herding dog from Belgium. While predominantly considered a single breed, it is bred in four distinct variet ...
, Tracker, hunts for rabbits near the border and notices the group trespassing; with the help of Tracker and the use of his
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World War ...
rifle, Sam kills most of the group, including Mechas and leaves Moises and Adela (
Alondra Hidalgo
Alondra Patricia Hidalgo Quintero (born February 17, 1989) is a Mexican actress with 231 voiceovers in Spanish.
Life and education
Alondra Hidalgo was the youngest child of Mexican actors Patricia Quintero and Enrique Hidalgo. Her parents met e ...
) as the sole survivors after a long chase. Unable to follow the last two, Sam decides to continue his hunt the next day and leaves with Tracker.
Adela and Moises find a spot to rest, with Adela confessing to Moises that her companion, who was one Sam's victims, was sent by her parents to protect her and even though he molested her during their journey, he didn't deserve to die that way. Moises confesses to Adela that he had already been to the USA and that he has a family waiting for him in Oakland, showing a talking teddy bear which his son gave to him before being deported, and that Moises promised him he would bring it back. Meanwhile, Sam rests by a campfire with Tracker, describing to his loyal dog how he used to love the desert but now the heat is playing with his mind and he wants to escape from it.
The next morning Adela and Moises steal Sam's truck, using the teddy bear to distract Sam and Tracker. The duo manage to start the truck and seem to have finally escaped when Sam shoots Adela in the shoulder, causing Moises to crash the truck. They continue on foot, followed by Sam and Tracker. Moises stops to take care of Adela's wound, then tells her he has to leave her and takes Sam's jacket and flare gun with him. Moises has a change of heart and uses a round of the flare gun to distract Sam from Adela; Tracker closely pursues Moises in a cactus field where Moises is forced to use the flare gun on Tracker and shoot him in the mouth before escaping; Sam finds a mortally wounded Tracker and reluctantly shoots him to end his suffering before swearing vengeance on Moises.
After a long time chasing Moises as they are climbing on a rock structure, Sam is dehydrated and tired; Moises hides between the rocks and pushes Sam as he is standing on the edge, causing both of them to fall and breaking Sam's leg in the process. Both try to reach the rifle, but Moises takes it and menaces Sam with the rifle for murdering so many people and trying to kill Moises and Adela as Sam begs for his life, for forgiveness, and for water. Instead, Moises leaves with the rifle, telling Sam that the desert will kill him and leaves Sam to die despite his pleas for Moises to come back.
Moises returns for Adela; he finds her alive, but unconscious, and carries her until they cross a salt lake.
Cast
*
Gael García Bernal
Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and producer. He is best known for his performances in the films '' Bad Education'', '' The Motorcycle Diaries'', '' Amores perros'', ''Y tu mamá también'', ''Babel'', '' Coco'', ...
as Moises
*
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan (born April 22, 1966) is an American actor of television and film, best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2022), for which he has received critical acclaim. He ...
as Sam
*
Alondra Hidalgo
Alondra Patricia Hidalgo Quintero (born February 17, 1989) is a Mexican actress with 231 voiceovers in Spanish.
Life and education
Alondra Hidalgo was the youngest child of Mexican actors Patricia Quintero and Enrique Hidalgo. Her parents met e ...
as Adela
* Diego Cataño as Mechas
*
Marco Pérez as Lobo
* Oscar Flores as Ramiro
* David Lorenzo as Ulises
*
Butch McCain
Butch McCain is an American actor, an award winning broadcaster, producer and one-half of the singing-songwriting team, The McCain Brothers. Butch appeared as TV reporter Joachim West in MGM's Bio-Dome, the character, Creel, in Roger Corman's re ...
as Radio Talker
*
Lew Temple
Lew Temple (born October 2, 1967) is an American actor, known for his roles as Locus Fender in the action film, '' Domino'', Cal, the diner manager in the comedy-drama '' Waitress'', and Axel in the third season of '' The Walking Dead''.
Early ...
as a
Border Patrol officer
Release
The film was first released at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015. In December 2015,
STX Entertainment announced that it would release the film in North American theaters the following March. The film was released in France and Mexico in April 2016 and had grossed $2.8 million as of 15 May 2016. The North American release was delayed until 14 October 2016.
Reception
Critical response
The film holds a 63% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 91 reviews with an average rating of 5.71/10. The site's consensus reads "''Desierto''
's thought-provoking themes and refreshing perspective are unfortunately offset by a predictable plot and thinly written characters." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a score of 51 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Dave Robinson of outlet ''Crash Landed'' reviewed the home entertainment release of ''Desierto'' awarding it 3 stars, taking note of its technical acumen in providing a thriller, but its "ill-defined script accomplishing nothing beyond passive entertainment" and of special note its complete lack of special features.
See also
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Desierto
2015 films
2015 drama films
2015 thriller drama films
2015 thriller films
2015 directorial debut films
2010s English-language films
2010s Spanish-language films
Mexican thriller films
Mexican thriller drama films
French thriller drama films
Films produced by Alfonso Cuarón
STX Entertainment films
2010s survival films
2010s French films
2010s Mexican films