Deadland

While I can say that I was somewhat fascinated by this small film, I can't honestly say that I completely understood all of it. The storyline listed here says it's about a border agent apprehending someone crossing the border that will haunt him forever, and that is true, but it's much more than that. It's a somewhat complex mystery about three border agents attempting to cover up the death of an illegal crossing the border and the repercussions they experience from that. While this is occurring, the primary border agent finds a man in his house who claims to be his father who he has never seen after being abandoned by him when young. However, this too is not exactly what it seems either. This is a mystery film, but it is also a supernatural film of some sort. It may in fact be the first supernatural film about illegal immigration. This is primarily about tying two events together, one in 1985 and one in 2023, and the price that needs to be paid for actions committed in that earlier year. The cinematography is very good as is the lead actor, a sympathetic border agent portrayed by Roberto Urbina. The rest of the actors do well too, but most of this rests on his shoulders and he handles it quite well. A compelling, complicated and always interesting film that film that more people should see.

There is no plot to this movie. It's as if it doesn't know what it wants to be. It is one of those films where a little conversation goes a long way. If Angel had just told his coworkers that the I. A. guys were looking for his long lost father who wandered into town. That wouldve removed all the reason for paranoia. The nonsensical conversations between ALL characters does not help. The simple lack of following simple safety procedures is what started this foolishness, but straight forward talking wouldve removed all doubt...so definitely Dont do that. This is just poorly written and poorly executed.

I wanted to like this movie because as a small indie film it had some real positives. A genuinely haunting atmosphere for a kind of supernatural mystery thriller. The movie was well cast and the 4 leads all looked the part of the characters they portrayed and certainly did the best they could with what they had to work with. The problem is what they had to work with was so confusing that by the time the movie ended I still had no idea what had taken place in this film or who some of the characters were suppose to be. Characters behaved in ways that were not realistic to the situations and the film was written in a way that advanced the plot by having characters behave in ways that made no sense. This script needed rewrites and it's hard to believe it was released in such an unfinished manner. The writers and director let this cast down. Worth a one time watch but good luck figuring it out.