| | |  Entertainment | September 2008 
Sundance Winner 'Sangre de Mi Sangre' a Compelling Immigrants' Tale
 Clint O'Connor - Plain Dealer
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The immigrant struggle in coming to America has been well-served on screen.
Vito Corleone made capitalism work for him after he arrived from Sicily in "The Godfather: Part II." More recently, the illegal Mexican workers of "Fast Food Nation" were thrown into the kill room of a meat factory. There they lost their humanity.
Because many of our ancestors brought very little from very far away, we tend to sympathize with new arrivals, even when they're straddling the law. Now we have two new teenage illegals to contemplate: Pedro and Juan.
Both travel from Mexico and land clueless in Brooklyn. Pedro is seeking a long-lost father, Diego. Juan steals Pedro's belongings, presents himself as Diego's son and hopes to score some money. Pedro is stuck wandering.
This identity-ruse is the foundation of "Sangre de Mi Sangre" (in Spanish with subtitles).
It's a sharp, compelling, well-crafted film. Devious and desperate, Juan (Armando Hernandez) befriends Diego (Jesus Ochoa), a craggy tough guy with no interest in alleged offspring. Pedro falls in with a drug addict (Paola Mendoza) and learns the ways of fast street cash.
Some moments in "Sangre de Mi Sangre" ("Blood of My Blood") are a little too neatly packaged, but it's primarily a first-rate endeavor, with a nifty performance by the memorable Ochoa. When father and "son" confront each other in a pivotal scene, it's a heated role-reversal revelation.
Most of all, "Sangre" is an impressive feature-film debut for writer-director Christopher Zalla. (It picked up the grand jury prize at the 2007 Sundance Festival.)
Zalla, an Oberlin College graduate, doesn't waste time with exposition or showy shots. He gets to the heart of his characters, then tries to keep up with them. As razor-broke immigrants, these young men can't even afford to live in the shadows. It's more like shadows' breath.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: coconnor(at)plaind.com |
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