Événement

Purgatorio: A Journey Into the Heart of the Border

Pulsos Latinos

Apr 25

(Rodrigo Reyes, Mexico/USA, 2012, DCP, 80 min)

Purgatorio: Un viaje el corazón de la frontera

Friday, Apr 25 at 09:00PM

La Frontera is both gate of heaven, and hell on earth. Show me a fifty-foot wall and I'll show you a fifty-one foot ladder, the saying goes. And yet, the desert is strewn with corpses, while debates about immigration continue to polarize discussion north of the border.

Rodrigo Reyes' harrowing and lyrical documentary goes in search of stories along the U.S.-Mexico borderfrom Tijuana to Juarezto piece together a human portrait of migration, xenophobia, corruption and salvation. The film moves through the stark contrasts of this liminal space, juxtaposing Minutemen with Border Saints, overworked coroners with drug lords, hope with abjection. Reyes has composed a mythic and unsettling work that addresses the paradox posed by his emigrante subjects who are determined to leave "a beautiful country."

Part of our series Pulsos Latinos: Films from the frontier of Latin American cinema. Read more about new Latino cinema on our screens >