Things are rough along the southern border of the United States. People are always trying to enter the country illegally from Mexico. It is the job of the Border Patrol to intercept these people – the first step in sending them back.
Angel Waters (Roberto Urbina – “Snowpiercer”), Salome Veracruz (Julieth Restrepo – “Loving Pablo”) and Ray Hitchcock (McCaul Lombardi – “Port Authority”) make up the border patrol crew working out of Laredo. They get calls from spotters that direct them where to intercept the migrants. One day, Angel receives a call to intercept a man about to cross the Rio Grande. He arrives to see the man about to enter the river. Despite his warnings, the man enters and is swept away by the current. Angel frantically drives along the river until he finds the man’s body on the rocks downstream. Drowned.
Taking his body back to the station, the man suddenly revives and says he needs to get to El Paso. But instead Angel takes him to the station in Laredo. At the station, he turns the immigrant (Luis Chavez – “Muzzle”) over to Ray and Salome and heads home, only to discover another immigrant, claiming to be his father, Ignacio (Manuel Uriza – “Switch Up”), has arrived and is being cared for by his wife, Hannah (Kendall Rae – “Out of the Shadows”).
While arguing with Hannah and the irrational Ignacio, Angel is called back to the station where he finds the immigrant has been shot to death by hothead Ray.
So begins the twisted, supernatural, and entrancing story of “Deadland.” The dead immigrant just can’t seem to stay dead. His death weighs on the minds and souls of the three patrol officers. What to do about Ignacio. And finally the arrival of internal affairs investigators. All these crises add up to insupportable tension for Angel, and worse for some of the others. This is a gripping imagining of family responsibility, fulfilling a promise and righting an injustice – even decades later.
This is a fascinating story written by debut feature director Lance Larson (“Velcro”) and Jas Shelton, in his first screenplay. Considering the backgrounds of the two, this is an impressive first outing, and hopefully there will be more to come. Shelton’s previous credits are for cinematography, and he does an excellent job here with the stark desert locations and the night time scenes.
Excellent performances all around, with a nice appearance by veteran actor Chris Mulkey (“Twin Peaks”) as one of the IA officers.
Note: A significant portion of the dialogue is in Spanish with English subtitles for much but not all of it. Mysticism plays a significant role in the much of the Spanish dialogue.
Runtime: One hour, 32 minutes
Availability: Amazon Prime
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