Recommended Movie: Sleep Dealer

'Plug into the new American Dream.' So after watching the typical boring Indy blowout I came across a little film on Cinemax on demand that was pretty interesting despite a one-line promo description that made it seem a little questionable. I am glad I took the leap and selected Sleep Dealer (probably should have used a different title).

The 2008 picture revolves around a future in which a young man, Memo (Luis Fernando Pena), accidentally does something that results in the death of his father, who manages the small family farm in a tiny Mexican village that has been ruined by the corrupt corporations that have taken control of fought-over water sources and dammed the river they relied upon.

The fascinating part is that in this futuristic somewhat sci-fi movie, the illegal migrant workers of the United States no longer cross the border, but are working from Mexico and other poor communities in an online system much similar to that of The Matrix, where they operate machines all around the US. As one manager poignantly of a ‘node worker warehouse’ states, "This is the American Dream. We give to the United States what they’ve always wanted, all the work without the workers."

Saddened by what happened, and burdened to provide for his family, he moves to Tijuana to become a 'node worker,' meeting the beautiful Luz (Leonor Varela) along the way who is a writer in a new era where the storyteller connects to the node-world and sells their stories. In debt, she tells the harmless story of their meeting, which leads to further interest from the node-world that leads her down a path of potential betrayal of the man she is falling in love with. The love story between the two is naturally built and told well in contrast to many of today's films where the story seems so forced. It also does well to explore the ethics of 'journalism' and the role of the nodes (the internet) through the female lead character, who is dancing along an ethical line through her storytelling process while also being concerned that there is a reduction in physical human interaction because of the nodes. It also explores the guilt experienced by military combatants in an interesting manner as the man who is directly responsible for the death of Memo’s father becomes an integral part as the story evolves.

Although it is not as much of a standard 'fun action movie' like The Matrix, Demolition Man, The Island or other futuristic movies, this is a much more realistic picture that touches on societal issues that could evolve in this manner. It may be in Spanish with subtitles for 90 percent of it, but it is worth checking out. It reminded me a bit of District 9, which used a gritty science-fiction scenario placed outside of the United States in a stripped-down manner to depict and address a tragic social issue. If this film had been made it typical Hollywood fashion, it would have lost a lot.