The Devil Has a Name

It is an engaging and interesting story, with an unexpected twist at the end.

An evocative film based on a true story of an everyday farmer battling the injustices of the judicial system as well as corporate oil money. Strong performances from a well known cast.

Bosworth is supposedly a brilliant oil goddess that outsmarts a farmer who has had his ground water poisoned. She navigates the farmer, the illegals, and the oil company to end up sitting head of the table at the end. The storyline is fractured and the stabs at dark comedy don't really work.

When a production is promoted to be "inspired by true events", a viewer expects actual facts. I watched this Olmos "inspired by true events" production for an hour and could only find one true event. Yes, indeed, JFK was assassinated in Dallas. Other than that, I cannot find one actual fact.

It seems the screenwriter is portraying the contamination of ground water in the Imperial Valley is a result of oil production and lax oversight by California's oil production oversight boards and laws. That is not a fact but imagination.

The contamination is factually based in the overuse of surface water for irrigation and being transported hundreds of miles to the overcrowded and under educated California population centers. The transport away from source never allows aquifers to recharge. This fact is never addressed, as it intersect's with Olmos' political views of the source of California's overgrowth, illegal immigration.

Olmos' work here is not factual in any degree, and blazes a trail into a growing movie genre, Non-science Fiction.

Had more good moments that not so good ones, and the old guys still add some texture to the movie. Too many movies nowadays are way over the top drama and shallow phony bad-asses. Sit back and just enjoy the movie.