Tehuantepec is the name of a City and of the isthmus that crosses Mexico at its closest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Back in time, and I don't have the exact dates, but most likely in the beginning of the 20th Century, there were no means of crossing the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Nations like the USA wanted a way to cross the Oceans in a faster way. England thought that the best way to do it was opening a railroad in the Tehuantepec Istmus that would allow such crossings to happen. The USA bet on a canal in Panama in order for this to happen. This movie deals with what it took to open the railroad between both Seas in a manner that would beat the opening of the Panama Canal. The movie takes us through the hardships that the people had to go through in so doing, specially with the yellow fever and the bubonic plague that they had to stand in achieving their goal. It is a movie that tells us that the economic goals are always more important than the well being of the people. Of course there are romantic soap opera type of stories that are told in order that these goals are achieved. but at the end the message is pretty much the fact that their goals had to be achieved, regardless of what happened. In other words, the end justifies the means. Good movie to watch, unless you have a more important thing to do.
