By: M

Sleep Dealer is a relatively lo-budget sci fi flick with a brain (with Spanish dialogue, don’t worry there are sub-titles), and the directorial debut of Alex Rivera. The film relies on a good story that parallels many of today’s top world issues: globalization, immigration and the war on terror and it’s impressively sleek visuals and ’future tech’ will keep audiences engaged.

Set in the near future, Sleep Dealer follows the misadventures of Memo Cruz (Luis Fernando Peña), a farm boy from Santa Ana del Rio, Oaxaca Mexico who migrates to the United States after a military drone seeking terrorists mistakenly destroys his family’s home.

The United States’ southern border has become a highly secured area (remind you of anything?) complete with hi-tech cameras armed with guns, water is in short supply thanks to a dam put up by the U.S. of A and the people and land South of the border are suffering more than ever. Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds, but surroundings are very much similar to what we see now, sort of a twist on the ‘lived-in / dystopic future’ akin to “Blade Runner” or the first “Star Wars”.

The most lucrative migrant jobs available involves them being plugged into a mass computer system that connects directly into the internet (think ”The Matrix”) via surgically implanted electronic inputs. Once plugged in, they become robot operators performing tasks across the globe. Industries are able get cheap labor without having to worry about the actual person and the immigrants are kept in the South. The technology, essentially turns the individual into a battery, which over time, drains their body’s energy.

Memo is able to get  ’plugged’ into the system, becomes involved with a new-age electronic reporter (Leonor Varela), and meets the soldier (Jacob Vargas) who controlled the drone that destroyed his home. 

As you take in the film’s story, you begin to realize, and worry a little, that what you’re watching is a very near and very possible future. The ending is very idealistic but is a hopeful message.

 Sleep Dealer is a film with a conscious and it’s simplicity makes it shine and stand-out from its louder, over-produced contemporaries. It is one of those rare films that offers a fair warning (technology impairing our sense of humanity) and makes us reflect, and actually think, about where society along the border regions is headed. Watch it, for it’s story and visual elements, and for the inevitable discussion you’ll have with your friends when it ends.