El Inmigrante
March 2008 Reviewed by: Marc Mickelson Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

A prerequisite for anyone vying to become the next president of the US is a position on immigration, an issue with deep economic and national-security roots. El Inmigrante takes a personal approach to discussing this societal issue, depicting one immigrant's story and the effect it had on his family.

In 1999, Eusebio de Haro, a young Mexican migrant worker, made his way to Bracketville, Texas, west of San Antonio and just over the Mexican border, with a companion. There, the two young men made the mistake of asking a rancher's wife for water. The rancher, Sam Blackwood, grabbed his .357 magnum and went out after Eusebio and his traveling companion, eventually shooting Eusebio in the leg as he fled and then letting him bleed to death. At first, Blackwood was charged with murder, then recharged with aggravated assault. He eventually received two years of probation for his primary role in Eusebio's death.

El Inmigrante tells this story through interviews with Eusebio's parents and siblings, officials involved in the case, and citizens and immigration officers who patrol the border between the US and Mexico. As one border-patrol officer points out, "Ninety percent of the people coming across are regular people looking for work. That's all it is." This along with Eusebio's particular circumstances -- he was a new father -- make his death all the more tragic. The light punishment his killer received leaves his family to believe that Americans are simply racists.

Much of the footage is beautifully shot and populated with images of Mexico and the desert of the southwestern US. This impressionistic footage allows the story to unfold as slowly as the heat warms the rocky landscape, and it works visually and narratively. The stereo sound is all that's needed for this story; voices moving from front to back would be a distraction. The extras, including a short film of outtakes and coverage of the de Haro family's screening of El Inmigrante, are interesting. English and Spanish subtitles are provided.

If anything, El Inmigrante doesn't let certain issues bloom enough. While the conclusion of Eusebio's family is a natural one, it would have been nice to probe the subject of racism a bit more, especially in light of the growing Hispanic population in the US and the cheap labor that so many immigrants provide to American companies. But as it is, El Inmigrante tells a story that's especially relevant right now, and one that has underlying themes the presidential candidates should consider long and hard.

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