An anonymous body in the Arizona desert sparks the beginning of a real-life human drama. The search for identity leads us back across a continent to seek out the people left behind and the meaning of a mysterious tattoo.
The ill-conceived structure and Bernal's anomalous presence sadly diminishes the impact of the material.
Bernal does his best to bring the film's detective work alive, but the presence of a big star somewhat overbalances this tragic story.
Bernal seems sincere but he’s playing a role he can step out of, which distracts from Silver’s deeper ambitions: to humanise and anatomise a heated political issue.
Marc Silver’s documentary is correctly outraged, if sometimes lacking focus.
Leaves a legacy of tenacious empathy for dead migrant workers.
Only the most callous anti-immigration zealot could fail to find these stories poignant, but there's something awkwardly artificial about the dramatised strand, in which ordinary folks strain to pretend they don't know Bernal is a film star with a camera crew in tow.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Friday July 25, 2014, until Tuesday July 29, 2014. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/